GUY’S ORANGE P7 29S£1,800

The Halifax hardcore hardtail is a steel-toecapped boot of a bike

The P7 has been a solid test bed for a bunch of kit throughout the year. Its geometry, based around a 66.5-degree head angle and 1,200mm wheelbase, lets you charge the 130mm fork harder into trouble than you normally would on a midtravel hardtail. The heavyweight frame, with Reynolds 725 main tubes, is definitely on the sturdy rather than springy side too. This all means that, whether you’re the rider sat in the saddle or a bit bolted onto the frame, you’re not going to be dodging trouble, you’re going to be taking it full strength.

That’s especially true of the fork, and we swapped out the original RockShox Revelation pretty quickly, replacing it with a succession of different 29er options as part of

our annual fork grouptest. On long-termers, it’s often the most troublesome forks we have to stick with, to see if we can find solutions to their ailments. Unfortunately, while the Öhlins RXF on the P7 was feeling better after a tuning session at Sprung Suspension, it’s now keen to share its internal fluids with the outside world, which isn’t ideal.

In contrast, big props to all the bits that have survived. That includes the Shimano Deore brakes, which are on their second set of pads (the economical but impressively effective DiscoBrakes. com Kevlars) but haven’t skipped a beat otherwise. They’re not the most powerful anchors, but are flattered by a 180mm rear rotor, and their communication and lever pull have always been consistent. The Shimano SLX gears haven’t complained once and have worked with all the different cassettes fitted to test wheels too. Beyond a bit of cosmetic polishing on the teeth, the Race Face Ride crankset isn’t looking remotely worn. The same can’t be said of the bottom bracket, which has given up the ghost, but at least it’s screw-in, so easy to replace. While the Kore-rimmed wheels haven’t been on the P7 much, they’ve been almost daily drivers on another bike and are still going strong.

In other words, while it may not have been the most forgiving long-termer I’ve had in terms of ride quality or lugging it up climbs, the P7 will still be a workhorse with plenty of life left in it when I rebuild it back to spec for its return to Halifax. www.orangebikes.co.uk