Orange Factory Racing is suspended for 2024… :
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Announcement from: Orange Bikes
30 years of racing pedigree. A squad full of iconic names. At the center of the entire downhill and enduro history. Orange Mountain Bikes has racing in its DNA and Orange Factory Racing is the latest chapter in that story.
Our founders founded Orange back in the late 80s because they loved racing bikes. The rigid machines of the time weren’t quite suitable for their needs, so they built their own. Looking ahead to 2023, there have been plenty of developments and innovations since those early bone-shakers, but the passion for cycling fast and against the clock hasn’t changed.
In 2020, we launched Orange Factory Racing – a formal name for what we’ve done for three decades: nurturing talent and moving quickly between belts at the top of mountain bike competition.
It was our way of keeping racing completely in-house, under our own control and 100% on our terms. Operated by Orange people, we work with brands we trust to help our bikes and riders go fast. It has been led by the people who design and build the bikes, with every hard-learned lesson going straight back to the source to support the continued development of Orange bikes.
For the first year we have recruited Scotsman Joe Connell, Lachlan Blair and long-time Orange rider Tom Wilson. The Orange Stage 6 Evo was the team’s flagship and showed the world that with a single pivot and British manufacturing it could succeed on the world stage.
The team competed in the entire Enduro World Series, selected Downhill World Cups and some individual events such as Trans Madeira as well as a whole range of domestic British events.
Good times and good results followed, spreading the good word of Orange around the world.
The squad hasn’t changed for 2021, but the tools have evolved.
A factory team is not just about racing. It’s also about research and development, testing prototypes and proving our bike designs are ready for the world – and the team’s biggest success for 2021 was the Orange Switch 7.
Designed to meet the needs of factory riders, our powerful, world stage-ready superbike, the Switch 7, has been tested, refined and developed by the team.
The team wished Joe and Lachlan a warm farewell in 2023 and welcomed Becky Cook and Christo Gallagher to the family.
Racing evolved from the Enduro World Series to the Enduro World Cup, but our commitment to racing around the world remained. Full EDR, lots of British stuff and a few other bits and pieces in between.
Becky scored the Switch 7’s first ever race win in the Welsh hills earlier this year and continued a season of solid results, with wins at Tweed Love and the prestigious Southern Enduro Championships in the UK, as well as a third place at the German National Enduro 2011 Winterberg.
Christo added even more gold to the team trophy cabinet. First at the famously technical Dunkeld Enduro and again at the British Downhill National in Glencoe, the South West Enduro Series event in Minehead and the Tweedlove Vallelujah race.
And let’s not forget Tom Wilson. Gold medal at Tweedlove, gold medal at the IXS DH Cup in Winterberg, gold medal at the Gisburn PMBA Enduro. Rock solid.
But all this good news also has a bittersweet note.
As we celebrate the team’s achievements, we also draw a line under this special chapter in Orange’s history. Orange Factory Racing will not return in 2024.
Given the great uncertainty in the cycling industry, the challenges surrounding the future of the Enduro World Cup Series and the sheer cost of running a competitive team at the factory level, we are urging a pause.
We will come back when the time is right. But for now, we have reached a peak and will take a break to focus on our main goal of developing world-class motorcycles.
That being said, our passion for racing isn’t going away, and neither is Orange Bikes. We’ll continue to support a range of talented athletes around the world – look out for more news on this in the new year.
Orange Mountain Bikes would like to thank everyone who has supported Orange Factory Racing during its three-year tenure. This includes our employees, our athletes, our partner brands, race organizers, media as well as our customers and fans.
The Orange Factory Racing squad:
Driver:
Tom Wilson
Lachlan Blair
Joe Connell
Becky Cook
Christo Gallagher
Staff:
Kelvin Lawton
Alex Desmond
Dan Greenwood
Photography:
Kike Abelleira
You can find out more about Orange Mountain Bikes at https://www.orangebikes.co.uk.
