Orange Patriot
OJI felt the need for big and burly and hopefully cheap, The patriot at 5" travel was once a capable downhiller is now outdated thanks to huge travel modern bikes, and fitted the bill perfectly.
moab  

One thing dominated my whole experience on this bike for ages - the chain-line- It's Shite!
Granted its a 72 mm shell and designed for single rings and I'm using 3 rings, but BigRing confirmed its just as bad on a Sub 3.
Turned out though after struggling across the states with it, that the problem was compounded by me running an old but still good 98 XTR 8 speed crank with wider than modern 9 speed ring spacing. After grafting on the new excellent XT hollotech cranks the problem is solved.
 
So what the hell is XC jeyboy doing with this bike, a valid question, glad you asked.

For me its how the bike rides, not how it looks, or the name on it (hell I had a Whyte). Or even some flash of patriotism (sic), nope I fell in love with the head angle of this bike from the moment I experienced it, let me explain.

All my riding life I've pushed the front tyre in a 250cc kinda styleé hard on the brakes then big lean angles pushing the front tyre. Like Max Biaggi though I've got the knee scars to show for when it bites, as well as a trail of broken forks. A long search for the holy grail of front tyres offering good grip, without going for mega slow downhill monsters also followed. I could change my style, but where's the fun in that.

The Red route at Glentress was the scene for my mini Eureka. The Cruz (be it Greggs Heckler) was flying, life was good and fun was high. Indian couldn't face riding his Patriot uphill with only one ring, so I took it out for a spin to ease his pain. I'm sure he just had plans for me to ride up and him to then take over and do the downs. Trouble is he forgot I could still beat him up, so off I went to actually ride it on a serious downhill before he had.....he he.

Despite wooden Hayes brakes, and some ropy forks it was clear this bike was made to go down, and as soon as Indian saw how effortlessly fast I was going on it he demanded it back. Those downhill dudes are no fools, a raked out front of 69 degrees might be a touch slow round Thetfords finest but boy is it stable when the speeds go up. The levels of grip and confidence from a well worn front tyre were outstanding, as I swapped over to Indians Superlight to do the same run again it was more apparent.


Having been running a CruzSL for over a year, I was on familiar territory, but I was amazed at the noise coming from the front tyre compared to the Orange on the same trail section. It was screaming as it scratched for all the grip it could manage, it was akin to the orange riding on tarmac whilst the Cruz struggled on gravel, amazing. I knew then I had to have one.


Some trawling on ebay later, together with a selection of light but serviceable bits saw the creation emerge. Big forks were needed without loading the weight, at 6 inches the Maverick DUC was the weapon of choice, ummm what happened to cheapness then.
Have to say the forks are not the prettiest of things, but they suit the orange in black very well.

The standard shock was pants and not suited to my plan of actually pedaling up as well, so some more bargain trawling produced a Manitou 4 way swinger shock allowing loads of tuning potential and a solid platform to allow uphill kicks.

First visit to the scales was a touch shocking, 34 lbs uhh oh Houston we have a problem. I'd won some Panracer Fire 2.4's and those were fitted, and the first casualties. At nearly 2 Kg a tyre forget it, anybody want them?

Welsh riding proved the idea was usable, even if I was working hard on the climbs, hell it can only benefit my racing in the long run. The big test was our States trip. Riding with XC whippets Gav and Adi was always going to be tough without any added ballast but the Orange proved superb for the job even if the gears did piss me off. That's the Bike on the slickrock of Moab above.

The Spain trip in Jan 2005 put a serious dent in this idea as the weight became more of an issue. Trouble was I'd gotten un fitter, as a fully charged XC jeyboy in training I could cope, but after a winter of accident enforced lay offs and general Xmas abuse I was struggling.


I can honestly say I've never ridden as confidently or as relaxed as for that week in Spain. I found myself searching for crazy off piste lines in places just to up the challenge, it was so good, but boy those climbs.
When you face an hours climb up a vast hill the weight just plays on your body and mind, and when tired the chances of mistakes increase.



Now what I really need is something with a relaxed head angle, maybe between the Cruz at 69 degs and the OJ at 71. Not so slow that your fighting the sharp turns, and burly with a hint of XC. More than 5 inches of travel on the rear and the potential for a sub 28lb build is all I ask, now wait a minute I think I've found such a beast.....stay tuned, I'm in lust again.