Orange P7 ... or not?

[Corduroyboy]

Re: 199? Orange P7 - in purple, and a bit of a state

More pics added.

So ... P7 or not?

Not. On closer inspection, it looks like paint rather than powder-coat - seems a remarkably close shade though! Also, curiously, the BB looks to have the tell-tale parallel file marks of having had a serial number removed...

 

[JonTom]

Re:

Hi Corduroyboy. Thanks for your input - much appreciated.

I'm not so sure those are file marks. The bike was wet when I took the photos and I used a scouring pad to wash the crud off the BB, I think they might be streak marks (but will check for sure in the morning).

Whatever it is - it's pretty light.

 

[JonTom]

Re:

So what do we think? Opinions from the Orange experts are welcome.

From the response so far, I'm inclined to think it's a fake. In which case I can strip and sell the parts for more than I paid for it.

But if it's genuine, well ...

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

Very curious as others have suggested. The paint looks exactly the same as my old c16. That was a very early one, probably one of the first shipped, so my best guess with this would be it's a p7 prototype mule.

It's got too many Orange touches and the correct paint/decals to not have come from Orange imo. Saying that, I can't see why they'd go for conventional stays. :?

 

[mattr]

I've seen a couple with stays like that, both came direct from the factory, both "non-production" bikes.

Neither of them had the correct colours or stickers tho.
One was matt black and eventually got nicked from a mates garden after a drunken night out, the other was battleship grey and IIRC built up with the magura hydraulic mounts front and rear. It was 20 years ago though, so i could be wrong.

 

[longun]

Looks cool and I'm not saying it isn't but iirc all orange steel frames had wishbone seat stays and were 1" head tubes for years, mine certainly was. Kinda looks like a Marin frame painted up, so possible reframe after a crash???? Would be cool to be proven wrong and if it's a workshop special or builder own bike......that would rock!!

 

[randomdan]

I thought Marin too when I saw the back end.. but but that top tube cable routing is very much 93-94 orange. Curious...
Didn't most canti-equiped Marins have gear cables routed under the BB with a plastic guide underneath? Suppose the guides have been ground off and new ones could be welded on - but that would be quite a bit of trouble to go to, so I think less likely to be fake..

 

[THWANG-666]

Re:

Hi
It's a Saracen frame.
Thwang