All things Orbit

[was8v]

Orbit review

Brilliant - cheers Ant

Is there another page to it though...?

 

[NeilM]

I think they buy in their frames now from Poland or the Czech Republic.

I seem to recall someone like Fort make them.

That's an interesting comment, as I have been looking on the bay for Orbit bikes.

A couple of weeks ago there was a nice Orbit road bike with a very unusual paint finish. The seller was miles away and it was pickup only, so I passed. Currently there is a Ribble road bilke with what appears to be an identical finish and I am assuming it was made by the same builder. That's a bit of a reach I know, but it's a very unusual finish.

I know this was pretty common with road bikes, all sorts of well known names actually didn't make their own frames, so there's no reason to think the same was not true (to a lesser degree) with mtb's.

 

[BoyBurning]

I know this was pretty common with road bikes, all sorts of well known names actually didn't make their own frames, so there's no reason to think the same was not true (to a lesser degree) with mtb's.

Yep, the same as with a certain celebrated 'Bristol' MTB frame builder who actually had most of their frames built in Coventry and driven down to them in the dead of night...

And the other outfit 'from' Leeds..


BB

 

[sinnerman]

I know this was pretty common with road bikes, all sorts of well known names actually didn't make their own frames, so there's no reason to think the same was not true (to a lesser degree) with mtb's.

Yep, the same as with a certain celebrated 'Bristol' MTB frame builder who actually had most of their frames built in Coventry and driven down to them in the dead of night...

And the other outfit 'from' Leeds..


BB

two wheels good..

 

[Antstark]

Yip there is ........uploaded.

Orbit review

Brilliant - cheers Ant

Is there another page to it though...?

 

[raidan73]

So it was me who got the one from Ebay recently. This is how it looked when I got it.

 

[was8v]

Paint looks fab on this! What's your plans?

 

[raidan73]

Paint looks fab on this! What's your plans?

The paintwork and decals are a little tatty and it has been touched up with a different colour blue but it is an iconic Orbit paint job so it will be staying. Most of the parts will be swapped out but I've not even finished stripping it down yet so don't expect much progress any time soon

 

[raidan73]

So I did manage to get it stripped down this evening, the bare frame weighs 2370g with the cable guide still fitted under the bb shell and a shit load of old grease in various orifices, the bike, not me) that is

I was exchanging emails with the chap I bought it from, making some enquiries into the possible location of the original forks. The response "They were ruined in a collision BITD" got me worried and upon inspection, sure enough there is a crack in the weld where the headtube is joined to the underside of the downtube :cry:

My plan is to continue with the build as planned for the time being as I have already invested a lot of thought, money and time in this project and want to see it through.

When it's finished I'll give it some road use to see what I think of it and go from there......

 

[bren]

:?
Could it just be paint damage?
Head tube joins brazed or what?
May get lucky and if you don't mind sacrificing the paint, some localised heat from a gas welding torch and some flux may get the crack filled without too much fuss. But obviously then you need a repaint.

Saying that, the damage was done a few years ago and nothing too worrying has happened since.