Orange Clockwork '93... what to do?!

[Anthony]

Yes, I suppose it is 'purist snobbery' to prefer a more aesthetically pleasing bar...
But if you are going to the trouble of finding a retro-bike you like (not the case in this impulse-buy instance apparently!) you may as well go the whole hog and do it 'properly'
Otherwise, you may as well invest in a cheap hybrid from Halfords and save all the money you're now going to fritter away because you've joined this Forum! :shock:

I must say I completely disagree with every word of this. I may however have chosen the wrong word in 'purist'. There's nothing pure about a set up that you find uncomfortable, and nothing wrong with finding a set up that is going to help maximise your use of a bike, rather than leaving it in the shed because you don't actually enjoy riding it.

The long stem, flat bar, low front, stretched-out style is just one of a large number of design errors that were current in the early 90s, simply because designers hadn't yet got their heads around what was required for mountain biking. You could add skinny tyres, narrow bars, standard-drive gearing, feeble brakes, slow steering - all things copied across from road bike traditions because that's what the designers had grown up with. And all soon junked when it dawned on them that this wasn't what you needed for enjoyable off-road biking.

it seems to me that what most distinguishes this website/community from MTBR VRC is the lack of unrideable garage queens here, and the openness to modifying old designs to give them a new lease of life and continued use out on the trails. The notion that you would be better off with a Halfords hybrid than an updated Clockwork seems slightly bizarre to me (no offence meant).

 

[FluffyChicken]

Agree with above it's a turn of the 90's bike and not 1993. the lower seat stay than the top tube pretty much tells you that.

Don't worry about the chainset, it's fine for your needs just check it's not sticking out to far if the bottom bracket wasn't changed when that quite a few years later chainset was put on it.
Start thinking about something else if you find you run out of high speed gears, which you might do with that setup on the road. It might start to spin out over 20/25mph or not find a nice gear to settle in to.

Do you have a complete side on shot of the bike, kneel down to bike level.

As a winter/road miles bike then just sort the end out to get it comfy for that sort of riding, fit a seat you find comfy and off you go.
Drop weight if you need it but as it's road miles/fitness it shouldn't really matter

Alter the brake if you want to but V's will require now brake levers as well.
Could just try some nice new multi-weather brake blocks first

 

[stevew8975]

A couple of more shots from today, including a side on view. I've replaced the stem with the original, but kept the riser bars for now, as it is a comfortable position for me. Cheapo semi-slicks are on for now but it rides very smooth indeed. Just need to regrease or replace the bearings in the hub, but it's all cool.

Frame number is A309A03xx - can it be aged from that?

 

[Anthony]

Frame number is A309A03xx - can it be aged from that?

Hmmm, somebody has A3 09A 0114, which is an 89 or 90 Clockwork, but he wasn't sure whether the first zero might be an 8. If his and yours are both zeroes in that position, I think it probably means that both frames were made in September 1990 and that A3 is the division of A-Pro that made them.

 

[feetabix]

Welcome to the site!.....keep it as original as possible, you will be glad you did when the retro thing starts to bite....most important thing though is to just get out and ride it!......great bike to enjoy, modern has it's place but keep the oranges character without diluting it with modern stuff!...

 

[highlandsflyer]

I have A8912444 Same seat stay placement.

Assumed that was 1989, December?

 

[raymondluxuryyacht]

Could still be 89, yes. It seems that the frame numbers were in a bit of an inconsistent mess around this period. Not sure when they were standardised but sometime certainly during the early 90s they settled on having first digit as year then followed by month.