Re:
Orange, Onza, Dia Compe and Zoom. Originally, bitd, I started mountain biking properly on a zolatoned Marin – which was a revelation after a Raleigh Arena :facepalm: The Marin got stolen in Cardiff and then shortly after that, I moved back to my home town of Huddersfield.
Bikeless, I'd go and console myself in Wheelspin (the LBS) which was an Aladdin's cave of Orange bikes and much trickery. I went home with the brochures, eagerly read the magazine reviews and dreamed of buying an Orange but only when I could afford to. So I scrimped and scraped and saved up.
Then one day, I noticed a new bike shop in town – Rainbow Cycles. Brian the owner worked with Orange developing bikes so he brought with a stash of bikes, frames and bits. We did a deal for £175 and I went home with an early period Clockwork frame in an unusual colour and some not-on-sale-yet shiny nickel F7 forks.
Over a couple of winter months, I went back to Wheelspin and bought my own choice of parts to build the bike: Zoom stem and seatpost, Dia Compe SS7s and 986 brakes, Vetta saddle, and Onza grips, tyres, clip-less pedals. I could never ever afford the higher end trickery brands at the time so these bits, whilst being affordable, were still cool and rad enough and I just loved the design and detailing of them. I'm very happy to report that 25 years on, I still have most of the above, running in perfect working order.
Orange in particular has very strong emotional attachment for me because it reminds me of home and where I came from – their factory was just a few miles the other side of a hill from where I lived and the Clockwork that I built up myself is staying with me for life.