Orange Five gets 29er treatment. It was only a matter of time, but Orange Bikes have made the leap to the world of 29ers, with the release of this still in development proto.

Despite being labelled under the company’s Strange tag, which it saves for new models and prototypes, it’s clearly based on a Five. And it looks pretty advanced to us.

Travel is 100mm at the back and 120mm up front, head angle is 70 or thereabouts and it’s said to have a very similar feel to that of the standard 26in Five. We can’t wait to try it out.

In a departure from its mountain bike roots, Orange is branching out into road and commuting bicycles (though anyone with a long memory will remember the company’s first foray into road cycling back in the 90s).

The new Carb-O carbon road bike was born out of the fact that many of the Orange guys ride road bikes for training and just to keep fit when time is under pressure. So they decided to try their hand at making their own.

This one model will cost £1900 and get a complete Shimano 105 groupset and carbon fibre frame.

The latest Patriot, seen here is wearing some very high-end parts including the brand new, and still quite rare, Cane Creek Double Barrel Air shock.

This is Ben Cathro’s very bold team MTB Cut race bike.

Also dipping a toe into the commuter market with two flat barred road bikes, Orange is continuing to diversify. These are still protos, but expect features such as Alfine hubs, disc brakes, eccentric bottom brackets, sorted geometry and so on.