Hope it doesn't turn out to be a lemon

[bj]

Recently I have volunteered to help out occasionally as a bike mechanic at a local recycling centre. There is BIG workshop full of donated bikes. As you can imagine, most are lemons. However, last week, whilst rummaging about amongst the lemons I came across an orange. As seen in the photo it is somewhat dishevelled. Despite my enthusing about its pedigree and talking it up the manager was happy to let me have it for only £15.

So I have now stripped it down to see what is what.

Frame: Clockwork Orange 17" (centre to top), black, no A2070215 (July 1992). BB was completely shot but came out. No obvious dings or serious rust. Cheap headset with some pitting in both cups- haven't tried removing yet.

Forks: 1" Plated F7 stamped June 1996

Brakes: LX cantis, Shimano MT63 levers

Drive: Exage M300 cranks, Pace rings (46 36 24), 7 speed cassette M737

Gears: XT 735 mechs front and back, Deore shifters (one missing its lever cover)

Wheels/Hubs: Rear - Vuelta scout rim with shimano Altus CT90 hub. Front - Alex AL VP20F rim with Acera M290 hub.

Other: Dec 1996 seatpost (missing seat bracket), Acor stem, unbranded riser bar

So a bit of a mixed bag. Initially I am going to clean all the bits up thoroughly and decide what to keep. Will strip the frame bare and see what is there.

 

[bj]

I'm not familiar with the brand so keen for any build tips.

Confused at the moment about seatpost. By all accounts it should be 26.8 but a 26.8 is a VERY tight fit - requiring a lot of twisting and damage to seatpost. A 26.6 is a nice snug fit. Not sure whether to open up the seattube top a little to try and better accommodate a 26.8, or accept is is a 26.6. Any 92 clockwork orange owner able to confirm seatpost size?

 

[Jussa]

I'm not familiar with the brand so keen for any build tips.

Confused at the moment about seatpost. By all accounts it should be 26.8 but a 26.6 is a VERY tight fit - requiring a lot of twisting and damage to seatpost. A 26.6 is a nice snug fit. Not sure whether to open up the seattube top a little to try and better accommodate a 26.8, or accept is is a 26.6. Any 92 clockwork orange owner able to confirm seatpost size?

Mine is a 26.6, You will find the binder may have closed up slightly so feels tighter than it should. Orange shimmed seatposts on many bikes.

Looks like its coming on great, they are fogiving bikes so dont be afraid to put your mark onto it, LX, DX, STX, XT, XTR even

Jussa

 

[Raleighracer]

Looks like its coming on great, they are fogiving bikes so dont be afraid to put your mark onto it, LX, DX, STX, XT, XTR even

Jussa

So t hijack the thread - is this the order of shimano quality? Have some dx and stx stuff and never knew where it sat in the range

 

[was8v]

Looks like its coming on great, they are fogiving bikes so dont be afraid to put your mark onto it, LX, DX, STX, XT, XTR even

Jussa

So t hijack the thread - is this the order of shimano quality? Have some dx and stx stuff and never knew where it sat in the range

no, this vaguely explains it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimano#Mo ... _groupsets


Orange looks fantastic for £15!!! F7 Forks ('94 on) aren't same age as the frame (92?).

Build up as is for a fun low theft risk town bike (remove decals?) or lavish some time and get the correct fork and a period DX groupset. Forks alone would sell for more than you paid.

 

[brocklanders023]

Defo not a lemon for £15. As you've already got some M735 parts I'd build it with a mixture of that and any DX stuff you've already got. Period correct and the sort of spec many would have built the bike with when new as you could mix and match the groupsets on Orange bikes bitd.

 

[lrh]

Dibs on the Acor stem

Would be nice to see one of these done on a budget and ridden hard as the makers intended... There's too much £1k period NOS contact-the-frame-builder-to-ask-what-colour-socks-he-was-wearing-that-day restoration nonsense around British bikes at the minute.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Looks like its coming on great, they are fogiving bikes so dont be afraid to put your mark onto it, LX, DX, STX, XT, XTR even

Jussa

So t hijack the thread - is this the order of shimano quality? Have some dx and stx stuff and never knew where it sat in the range

no, this vaguely explains it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimano#Mo ... _groupsets


Orange looks fantastic for £15!!! F7 Forks ('94 on) aren't same age as the frame (92?).

Build up as is for a fun low theft risk town bike (remove decals?) or lavish some time and get the correct fork and a period DX groupset. Forks alone would sell for more than you paid.

For that year '1992'
XTR
Deore XT
Deore DX
Deore LX

then
Exage (various)
lower still
various 'GS'

The above link isn't very good for the retro era
try
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/v/M ... o+Archive/
http://fa-technik.adfc.de/Hersteller/Shimano/ specifically http://fa-technik.adfc.de/Hersteller/Sh ... en.html#92

 

[bj]

My current plan is to clean up all of the bits it came with, paintstrip the frame and rebuild. I am initially going to build it up low budget to see if I get on with it being a 17" frame. At 5ft 10" I would have preferred a 19" frame.

Bits to source: 26.6 seatpost, 68x122 BB

Damaged but probably useable bits: rear mech, left brake lever, left thumbie

Rob

 

[MCsanandreas]

i like the forks! £15? can't be bad at that price,good luck with the project.