dadstardeluxe
Retro Guru
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I haven't posted a build for a while, but thought I would share this with you.
I know that this bike will divide opinion, and I FULLY understand why, but I love the splatter and neon period late 80's to early 90's of MTB history. So when this bike popped up on ebay a few weeks ago fairly local to me, I thought I'd give it a go. It was only £25, so why not? The second picture down is the listing image and that was all I had to go on, it was the combo of ALL of the neon and splatter thrown in that grabbed my attention. It is a bit faded in parts, but has cleaned up much better than I thought it would.
I've used mostly the original parts, (except for period splatter bars which I couldn't resist.. and a couple of other bits). I just wanted to try to preserve what was already there and was half decent. I know most of the groupset is pretty low rent, but I think the frame is flashy enough without throwing serious parts on it, and the frame is pretty heavy (Reynolds 501), so it seems a good match for now.
The frame has quite a few unusual quirks, the BB shell is pretty high, I guess like Cannondale's 'Beast of the East', and for the same reason, the wheelbase seems to be quite long too with the rear wheel set back quite far, and I like the wrapped and Orbit stamped seat stay tops.
I took a punt, got it home, and it has really grown on me. It rides really nicely too, though I only finished it the other day so haven't really taken it very far as yet.
Any info about Orbit (including correct date of manufacture of this bike) would be most welcome - I know they started out in the Black Country originally (?) so this bike hasn't come far.
I know that this bike will divide opinion, and I FULLY understand why, but I love the splatter and neon period late 80's to early 90's of MTB history. So when this bike popped up on ebay a few weeks ago fairly local to me, I thought I'd give it a go. It was only £25, so why not? The second picture down is the listing image and that was all I had to go on, it was the combo of ALL of the neon and splatter thrown in that grabbed my attention. It is a bit faded in parts, but has cleaned up much better than I thought it would.
I've used mostly the original parts, (except for period splatter bars which I couldn't resist.. and a couple of other bits). I just wanted to try to preserve what was already there and was half decent. I know most of the groupset is pretty low rent, but I think the frame is flashy enough without throwing serious parts on it, and the frame is pretty heavy (Reynolds 501), so it seems a good match for now.
The frame has quite a few unusual quirks, the BB shell is pretty high, I guess like Cannondale's 'Beast of the East', and for the same reason, the wheelbase seems to be quite long too with the rear wheel set back quite far, and I like the wrapped and Orbit stamped seat stay tops.
I took a punt, got it home, and it has really grown on me. It rides really nicely too, though I only finished it the other day so haven't really taken it very far as yet.
Any info about Orbit (including correct date of manufacture of this bike) would be most welcome - I know they started out in the Black Country originally (?) so this bike hasn't come far.
