Earliest Orange P7 ?

[Anthony]

Thanks for the info everyone, btw when I bought my P7 it was being sold as the tougher version of the Clockwork, bit heavier maybe but much stronger, particularly the forks..

Yes, that was correct. The P7 was a fraction heavier than the Clockwork/C16R, but it was made with heat-treated tubes, which are stronger than the same gauge (i.e., weight) of standard d-b tubing. So the end result was a frame that was stronger than either the C16 or the Prestige, but about the same stiffness as the C16 and stiffer than the Prestige.

I don't think there was any difference in the forks though, unless you bought an aluminium fork.

 

[brocklanders023]

Wasn't the P7 the first time we saw the F7 forks?

 

[secret_squirrel]

No he wasn't, that's what the P7 was.

Disagree. The brochure for 93/94 says "P7 denotes the 7th iteration of our Prestige frame set"
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/d/3 ... ochure.pdf

In reality it was a completely different frame both in terms of moving away from the tange tube set (unlike that years clocky which was still Infinity I think) and the move to oversize tubes. So either it's a prestige descendant or a complete step change - a clockwork relationship is a very distant third.

 

[brocklanders023]

It does say that but also says it's built to be tougher. Surely the '7th generation of Prestige' refers to the geometry as it shares nothing (except tube thickness) with a Prestige and they say as much. It was built as a heavy duty rugged bike. It did not replace the Prestige like for like in the line up.

 

[jimo746]

Bevelhead - you probably have one of the earlier P7's, I remember when I bought my Prestige frame cheap as a "last years/end of year model" in late '93/early '94 I was very tempted by the P7 which had come in as the replacement as the Prestige was phased out.
It was only the discount on the Prestige frame that swayed me towards it, my understanding at the time was that both the Prestige & P7 were Oranges top-of-the-range steel race bike frames, with the P7 being the new kid on the block.

 

[Bevelhead]

Thanks for all the info.. a tangled web ! almost as bad as finding out the correct spec of an old Ducati.. Just back from doing the Trans Pennine Trail.. glad I did it, but not in a hurry to repeat that adventure lol..Here are a couple of quick photos when I got the bike back from its time away. Need to find a std SK8 Stem, as don't think the new one looks right.. My old Clockwork is turquoise/green
and silver, no pics of that, but will get some next time I visit my brother..

 

[secret_squirrel]

Lovely p7. Crazy-assed stem!

 

[jimo746]

I agree with Secret Squirrel, what's going on with that stem!?? :shock:

 

[andyz]

I must confess I'm a bit puzzled on the weight comparison issue here.
Of the 4 steel Orange frames which have passed through my hands, the 1995 P7 was by far the lightest, at about 2kg (17"). I had a 17" Clockwork which was 2.45kg, a Prestige which was about 2.3kg and a 19" early P7 which was only just over 2kg. :?

 

[Rampage]

I've just bought a P7, I believed they were made from Tange Prestige. I wanted to replace my Diamondback frame with some made of the same tubing but with less twitchy steering.
What do they ride like?