sthodgson":1b0ver7f said:
Interesting stuff. I've got the same frame in the same colour, although nowhere near as tidy as that one, and it has a tange infinity sticker on it. I was pretty sure it was a 94. Seat tube is different to my older frames but can't remember exact size.
They used the same colour scheme late in 93. Why not show us a picture of your bike, and tell us the frame number? That should enable us to tie down which model year it is.
raymondluxuryyacht":1b0ver7f said:
It would be surprising if every single 94 clockwork Had series 7 tubing. I completely accept that c16r frames were badged as clockworks for a while but to conclude no 94 clockworks had other tubes does not necessarily follow. Orange followed a continuous development process. I am pretty sure I've seen an infinity tubed 94 model. Also wold ranger has an unusual seat tube on his clockwork which seems to be neither infinity or series 7!
Note first digit on frame number after the A is the year the frame was built. This maybe different to the model year. E.g a late 93 made frame may have been built up with parts and sold in 94 and badged/stickered as in the 94 catalogue. Although some 94 clockworks were definitely c16rs in almost all but name, wold rangers seems to be evidence of a prototype or crossover between the two.
As the C16R was the sixteenth variant of the Clockwork line starting in 1988, there must have been around three variants per annum on average. I don't know for a fact that there was no Tange Infinity 1994 Clockwork, but I haven't seen one and I have seen plenty of 94 Clockworks like the one in this thread.
The notion that the final versions of the Clockwork were C16Rs stickered as Clockworks doesn't make any sense:
a. if Steve and Lester say it's a Clockwork, it's a Clockwork - who knows better than them?
b. if there was no difference between the 15th variant of the Clockwork design and the C16R, then the C16R wouldn't have been a 16th variant
c. if you thought C16R was a better name than Clockwork, why would you put the old name on a batch of new frames?
d. alternatively, if you though Clockwork was a better name than C16R, why would you change the name to C16R?
It seems to me we ought to just accept what Orange said - the sixteenth variant was different from the fifteenth, and they were bored with the Clockwork name, so they called it the C16R. At least that makes sense - although in my view it was a mistake, but that's another issue.