1992 Orange Aluminum Elite

[damianw]

Well it's been 5 years, but finally the Elite lives again!

Thanks to Carl at Balfe's bikes for his quarter century old knowledge and skills, Hurin76 for passing on the Elite (I am definitely not letting it go!), and the other retrobikers who have supplied parts. I also found a few cracking XT NOS deals on ebay. But nothing like a retrobike trade.

It's supposed to have a lot of patina but be perfect mechanically. XTR wheels and brakes and XT everything else. I do still need an XT 735 rear mech, and possibly a change from the Orange hotrod bar. But it's done, it works, it's great. I have decals from Gil_M and a temptation to polish it but honestly, it shows it's years of racing and whatever else it's done and for now i really like it like that.

Orange Aluminium Elite

Orange Aluminium Elite

Orange Aluminium Elite

Orange Aluminium Elite

Orange Aluminium Elite

I absolutely love it! Any comments welcome. I have a NOS XT cassette to go on and a ton of old parts to sell/karma. Will get to that as soon as I can. In the meantime, rewind to 1992, imagine you've just spanked £1400 or so on your new bike, and enjoy!

 

[Cheshire1980]

Looks ace, I personally like battle scars on a bike, nothing to serious, fine looking machines those elites, am hoping to get my elite built up before the years out..Anyway I really like it.

 

[zetecmk2]

that is lovely!!! my neighbour bought one back in the day...just to show me he had the best bike....i had a clockwork. he didn't know how the gears worked!!! sorry to ramble on, it just bought back an old memory i had forgotten about!!!

 

[damianw]

Re:

I had a Peugeot. Basically a touring bike! My brother had a real mtb (girvin flexstem natch) and neither of us could imagine having something like this. There was an mtb shop in Bishop's Stortford, where we grew up, and I remember seeing full sus bikes for the first time- crazy stuff, so high end tech, fun to be able to build and ride them now!

 

[Archemist]

Nice one

 

[TonyMerryfield]

Just added this to my mega list of 'show us your...' threads:
viewtopic.php?t=331715

 

[Dossa]

Re:

Super nice... I'm gagging to polish that frame up, though...

 

[damianw]

Re:

Thanks, I was thinking the same but wearing it's years is looking pretty cool too. Something to come back to in future. For now I'm glad to have got my orange anodised NOS xt bits on it and just waiting on a cassette and rear derailleur and will try to spend a few years using it before frame polishing. I was actually more excited getting this finished and rideable than when I built up my derosa or the ibis. I'm really happy with it.

 

[damianw]

It’s been a while (7 years)! The bike had a really good set up at Ratrace cycles in Nunhead last year and had been flying- stuck the slick tyres on from my son’s roadbike (yeah, not much choice for 26” road tyres) and have been commuting on it and loving it. There are about to be some changes with frame polishing and possibly switching to the smaller Elite for day to day, but right now it needed a brake shoe replacement. I’d love some advice from the RB massive. Here is my set up (seems it displays at the top of the post).

When I try to change the brakes, it’s not like on a park took video! The nut that needs loosening is tucked right into the seat stay area and hard to get at. And I had to remove the brake booster… how should I be approaching this tiny job, because I’m sure I’m doing it wrong! I can see that a small open ended spanner would make quicker work of it compared to trying to use an adjustable wrench.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Booster off
Bolt brake back on.
Ring spanner works nice, tighten the barrel at the brake lever so you have the block against the rim, these work best if you clamp the stud in the outer part, not the inner part.
Change blocks, push block the rim, tighten with the nut, you can Allen key at the front if that helps.
Same for the other side.
Check etc, loosen barrel.
Check straddle is in correct position when it hits the rim.

Look at BR-m900 instructions if you need extra help.

Much easier to do it than describe it.

Never use an adjustable on these.

Recommendation.
Use V-Brake style stud brake blocks, you can then just slip out and slip in a now pad when needed.