Orange E2 / E3 Timeline

[emjay]

Thanks homerjay,

Anyone else with E2/E3's

 

[TrevorKershaw]

better late than never...

my '94 e2 is A407



TrevorKershaw, how did you get your frame so sparkly... think i'll finally have a bash at restoring mine over the coming weeks.

First I stripped all of the varnish off with "Everbuild X3" paint and varnish stripper and hosed down the frame with the setting on "jet".

Then I scrubbed the frame with a scotchbrite pad. I THINK THIS WAS A MISTAKE, as it left tiny scratches on the aluminium, which are difficult to get rid of. They don't show up well on the pictures, but they are easy enough to see. It looks like Torville and Dean have done the Bolero on the frame!!! Next time I think I will just use a sponge to rub the frame down (or possibly a shammy), then go straight to the polishing cream.

Next, I spent lots of evenings polishing up the frame with Mother's Mag and Alu polish to get the bright finish.

I used vinyl gloves to stop my hands getting filthy; the residue is difficult to get out of your hands. I covered my middle finger (the strongest one) with a thickish micro-fibre cloth but applied the cream with the finger tip, very firmly. in a similar way you would when bulling army boots, either polishing in tiny circles or length-ways a couple of inches, or 5/6 cm at a time. Finally, I wiped off with a clean micro-fibre cloth, rather than using a drill like many do. Hard work, but I think it was well worth it.

Work methodically and start at one end of the frame, working on the tubes in an organised fashion.

I also used a thick flat white boot lace to get to the bits in the welds and other tight spots. Incidentally if you use the lace on the tubing, you get quite an attractive rippling effect on the aluminium. I am going to try experimenting with this finish. I have no idea if a coat of lacquer would then cover up this effect, as I haven't got that far yet, but hope to get my frame finished before the end of the month.

Hope this helps.

 

[homerjay]

thanks pal...

why did you use a finger and not a drill with a polishing pad?

 

[TrevorKershaw]

thanks pal...

why did you use a finger and not a drill with a polishing pad?

It's a great way of unwinding!!! I also thought that hand polishing may get a better finish. I just sit in front of the tv in an evening polishing the frame, getting very strange looks from my wife and children. I used a drill on my car alloys and it got a good, but not brilliant finish.

 

[Anthony]

I guess A504A0152 must be an E2, as it has such a small gusset, but if so it is a very late example - I have a note of an E3 frame E501nnnnn, so it would imply a definite overlap. I find this surprising, as the strengthened E3 was introduced to deal with a known weakness in the E2 design, many of which broke. I don't understand why they would continue building to a design with a bad warranty record after they had already introduced a stronger model. Especially as selling E2s in 1995 must have been quite a struggle.

Broadly speaking, the 1995 E3 had a canti guide like the one pictured, the 96 E3 had the pipe instead (and I don't see why this is being criticised as I would assume it was an improvement on the crude 95 guide) and 97 E3s had neither, as they were designed for V-brakes. I say broadly speaking because Orange never did things in complete years and would often change a design when they ordered a new batch of frames, which they did more than once per annum (hence the C16R being the 16th revision of the Clockwork, even though the Clockwork had only been out about six years). As part of this, I have a suspicion that late 96 E3s may have been made for V-brakes and look quite like 97s without the pipe.
[96 XT V-brakes first appeared in Autumn 95, so if you were ordering a final batch of 96 E3 frames early in 96 you'd have to be tempted to design them for V-brakes to help them sell]

 

[cherrybomb]

orange frames can be a nightmare to identify because of the design changes that occurred during the year.

I'm enjoying reading this thread but why don't you extend it to include all of the 'E' bikes so that there is a complete history of the changes all in one place.

I could add my 98 E4 then

Frame No. MT80600456

 

[TrevorKershaw]

Nice E4. I can see the frame difference between my E3 and this one.

 

[Anthony]

I could add my 98 E4 then

I feel sure I've pointed out before that it's a 99 not a 98, haven't I? You can tell from the double shape of the dropout and the flatter chainstays.

I think somebody referred earlier in the thread to Easton tubing, but in fact the E4 was the first Orange to use Easton tubing, Easton Elite. Earlier references to the name Elite in Aluminium Elite, morphing into the E numbers, refer to a different meaning of Elite - commemorating the fact that an aluminium Orange won the Elite category of the NPS in 1990.

 

[cherrybomb]

I could add my 98 E4 then

I feel sure I've pointed out before that it's a 99 not a 98, haven't I? You can tell from the double shape of the dropout and the flatter chainstays.

You certainly have and as far as the design details go, it certainly has all the characteristics of a 99 frame, and it was a warrantee replacement. But; the frame number still relates to a June 1998 frame. Given Oranges prior form relating to changing stuff mid year, I'm just going by the frame number

I guess it's just down to whether you trust the frame numbering system or catalogue photos more I guess?

Oh, and its quicker to type "98" than "possibly 98 but could just as easily be 99"

 

[cherrybomb]

Anyhoo,

Would nice to have a full development history from the original Elites through to the E8 (or whatever the last iteration was).