1998 Orange O2 'Saved'

[rugbymtbr]

Hi to all,

Fantastic forum, love the content and memories browsing through all the 'old' bikes from my younger years. Recently decided to retake to two wheels and picked up a couple of bikes from eBay for a bit of restoration.

I used to have a P7 many, many years ago - so found a used Orange bike that was local to me. This one is for my other half, so a small frame was needed for her. The seller wasn't 100% sure what model or year it was, but the Orange support guy was extremely helpful in identifying it as a 1998 O2.

Unfortunately it had been stored outside (in the rain) for over 10 years - so there wasn't a great deal that could be saved on the bike. I thought about searching for all 'period' parts, but came to the concllusion that I could knock together something a bit more economical and reliable going with new parts.

This is how it started:



It now looks like this (Not quite an original, but still has the original frame, handlebars and stem (oh...and the head tube badge )





I did manage to rebuild the forks, but that was a longer term job than just getting the bike ready and back on the road - so went with some Rockshox to get it going at first. The old Bomber Z5's have come out nicely after a full strip down, new seals and paint. Just need to find another bike to put them on now!

 

[Paul R]

Well done on giving it a new lease of life a bit to modernised for my tastes but looks good none the less

 

[idrisrugby]

Re:

Love what you've done to this, great job.

You 100% need to get the Z5s back on the bike though, will look so much nicer and more in feel with the original look

 

[rugbymtbr]

I think I may have a battle with the other half over changing the forks back! This was the 'half way house' as she really wanted a new bike, but I couldn't bring myself to buy one when there are so many out there that can be brought back to life!

I have another project which needs a set of forks - but unfortunately, these aren't suitable. I was going to put them on eBay, but think I might stick them on here and see if anyone has a bike they would look right on.

 

[coomber]

Re:

Awesome job.

On bike and forks

 

[Carge]

she really wanted a new bike, but I couldn't bring myself to buy one when there are so many out there that can be brought back to life!

Great work on the O2
Thing is, if you had bought a new bike - how much would you have had to spend to get a frame weighing anything like the O2 - I think the 17" frame as about 1650g. So as a lighter bike for a lady - works really well

I have one - just reworking the build on it - but it will be pretty light once it's done.

 

[rugbymtbr]

Re:

When I 'weighed' ( pun intended ) it up - refurbishing an old frame just made sense. I was quite surprised once it was stripped down, just how light wieght it is.

I didn't go too overboard on the groupset, thinking that we might change it to a 1x10/11 after the winter. Seems to change nice and crisply and hopefully won't give too much trouble with the OEM cables replaced with Jagwires.

I used to have Maguras on my old P7, and remembering how good they were (and low maintenance) - thought that was worth the investment. They stop just as well as I remember!