New bicycle inventory
Orange Crush
“High School Racer”
Custom built 27.5″ hardtail
Size Small
$2,750
Sale! $2,400
- Orange Crush aluminum frame, size small, 27.5″ wheels
- Suntour Zeron LO-R 150mm travel air fork
- SDG Tellis Dropper Post, 150mm
- SRAM SX DUB crank, size appropriate 165mm length
- Microshift Advent X rear derailleur, 1 x 10 setup
- Microshift Advent X 11-48 cassette, 10 speed, with aluminum carriers
- SRAM Level brakes, with 180mm rotors front and rear
- SDG Bel-Air RL Saddle
- Custom shop-built wheels – SRAM 900 Boost Front hub, 28H, , SRAM 746 Boost Rear Hub 32H, RaceFace ARC 30 rims, Sapim Laser spokes laces 2-cross, Sapim Secure-Lock brass nipples
- Continental Mountain King tires, 27.5″ x 2.4″, tubeless setup with valves included
- RaceFace Aeffect Riser bar, 760mm wide, 20mm rise, 35mm clamp diameter
- Kalloy Mountain Stem, 35mm clamp diameter
- USA-made Wolf Tooth headset
I’m happy with this build, and I hope that customers are too. While a lot of companies throw a carbon frame on a hardtail to “upgrade” it, this bike puts that performance elsewhere. While carbon frames can be lighter, they can also be easily damaged and they certainly cost more. Since a lot of beginning (but serious!) racers crash now and then, this bike starts with a sturdy, well engineered aluminum frame. In addition, this bike isn’t a “race only” setup, it’s built for fun too. With a low top tube, a 150mm dropper post, and a 150mm travel fork this bike doesn’t need to be put away when the racing day is over.
The fork was a careful choice as well. While Suntour might be a bit more well known for their lower-priced forks, they also make some GREAT performing stuff — all the way up to teams using Suntour forks on the UCI World Cup Downhill, Enduro and Cross Country circuits. While the Zeron isn’t their top line, as a fork that retails for $350, it offers a sealed cartridge damper with 35mm stanchions – features that cost hundreds more on competitors’ forks. In addition, the Zeron is a grease-lubricated fork, making maintenance a bit easier for those racers who don’t always get to skip a race on a rainy day.
The drivetrain is the workhorse on this bike. Sure the 12-speed systems offer two more gears than the Microshift Advent X 10-speed system we’ve chosen, but at what cost? The Advent X cassette offers a bit less range with the 48 tooth low gear on its 11-48 cassette, but consider that the Advent X cassette weighs 424 grams and a SRAM NX cassette weighs 615 grams. (a bit less than half a pound of rotating weight!). Also – when replacement time comes, the Advent X cassette comes in at $65 versus the NX at $115. The derailleur is a similar story – $72 versus $115. This is combined with a SRAM SX DUB crank, with a size-specific 165mm length and a durable steel chainring. Durable stuff that’s lighter and cheaper!
The crown jewels of this bike are the wheels though. The Race Face ARC 30 rims are a shop favorite and have been my rim of choice when building wheels for the local chargers. The 4.5mm offset spoke bed of these rims provides much more even spoke tension between the left and right sides o the wheels, so the wheel is significantly stronger. These wheels use Sapim Laser spokes – a top-quality stainless steel spoke with a thin section in the middle (2mm at at the ends, 1.5mm in the middle) for light weight. The wheels are laced 2-cross rather than the more traditional (and heavier) 3-cross, and use Sapim Secure-Lock brass nipples. I’ve found that brass nipples survive Vermont weather better than aluminum ones, especially for wheels that might require occasional truing from race and training damages. The Secure Lock feature also means that the wheels stay true longer. These are laced to a SRAM 900 hub up front with 28 spokes, and a SRAM 746 in the rear with 32. Another feature on the wheels are the tires – rather than succumbing to the trend of fitting the standard DHR/DHF “enduro” tires, we chose to use the Continental Mountain King, which undercuts the weights of the enduro-type tires by about half a pound per tire, while offering a bit more wet-conditions traction that a lot of dedicated cross-country race tires. The wheels are setup for tubeless, already taped, they just need tubeless stems installed. (the bike is setup with tubes in the shop)
The brakes are simple (but good) SRAM Level brakes, a two-piston caliper setup that saves some weight and cost on this bike, with SRAM’s Centerline 180mm rotors front AND rear. (I never understood the 160mm rear rotor….) If a bit more bite is wanted on the bike, SRAM’s semi-metallic pads are a nice upgrade rather than springing for new brakes, as these rotors will work with either pad type unlike some other lower-priced rotors. A few final nice touches — the bike has a USA-made WolfTooth sealed headset, and a nice SDG Tellis dropper post – stuff you don’t see at this price point but (again…) make the bike a bit more durable. Stop by to see it! (we can build them in different sizes too!!)

Orange Alpine 6S, Fizzy Orange, size Small, MSRP $4,200
Now with upgraded drivetrain!
On sale over 20% off! Now $3,300!
Orange Bikes long travel enduro mountain bike. 170mm front travel, 165mm rear. Orange Bikes full suspension bikes use a single pivot (less maintenance costs!) and all full their full suspension bike frames are made in the UK. This bike has a RockShox Yari up front, a RockShox Super Deluxe Select shock, a SRAM 12-speed GX derailleur and shifter, a SRAM SX DUB crankset combined with Shimano Deore brakes, with an SDG Tellis dropper post. Click on the photo above to be taken to Orange's website for more specifications.
This bike weighs 32.7 pounds as shown (no pedals) on the shop scale.

Cinelli Zydeco Apex AXS
- Cinelli Zydeco aluminum frame, size LG
- Cinelli carbon disc fork
- SRAM Apex 1x “wide” crankset, 172.5 length, 40T chainring.
- Custom wheels – Stan’s Neo 6-bolt hubs with XDR freehub, Sun Ringle Helix TR25 SL Rims, Sapim Laser spokes
- WTB Riddler 37mm tires, tubeless ready
- Easton EA90 cranks (172.5 length), 40T direct-mount chainring.
- SRAM Apex hydraulic brakes, flat mount, with 160mm SRAM Centerline rotors front and rear
- FSA Adventure Compact Bar, 44cm with Cinelli cork tape
- FSA Omega 110mm stem
- WTB Volt saddle
- SRAM Apex AXS shift/brake combo levers
- SRAM Apex XPLR electronic shifting rear derailleur
- SRAM Apex XPLR 12-speed cassette, 10-44 range
Another shop build.
Some gravel bikes try really hard to blur the lines between mountain bikes and road bikes. This isn’t that bike. Sure, if you’re into the punishment of riding a rigid bike with skinny tires on technical trails you can suffer along on this one as well as any other, but it’s home is Vermont’s miles of maintained unpaved roads. It doesn’t pretend it’s a mountain bike, and it’s not a great road bike either. The 1 x 12 drivetrain runs out of steam if you’re riding with your roadie friends too, but it is a fine companion for exploring the hundreds of miles of low-cars roads that crisscross this beautiful state (and others!). Also as is our preference, this bike comes with custom hand-built wheels built for durability – and they are fully ready for a tubeless conversion – DT’s high-pressure rim tape is already installed!
The bike is equipped with SRAM’s Apex AXS electronic groupset, a great way to experience the precision of electronic shifting without breaking the bank.
$2,950 dollars and this beauty goes home with you.