Retrorobert
Dirt Disciple
Having picked up a beauty of a frame on here I decided to build my perfect cross country retro rocket. I wanted to achieve a superlight nimble steel ride that reminded me of the Team Marin I had in my youth!
The 19" Tange Prestige Superlight frame weighed in at 1999 grams which wasn't a bad start.
I decided as many parts as possible should be from a UK brand in keeping with the Orange theme. That meant copious amounts of USE, X-lite, Hope and Pace.
The first addition was a set of Pace RC35's which were a must have for an Orange of this vintage. I added the Stage 2 Titanium upgrade kit to save those few precious grams
So up next was the wheelset, a nice hope titanium rear, middleburn front hub both laced with db spokes to Mavic 217 rims, with an M737 8 speed cassette and USE titanium spinstix skewers finishing them off.
For the bottom bracket I went with a Hope titanium with a Middleburn RS3 crankset (3dv spider) attached at either end! (pedals are currently modern spds which I feel are more reliable for now)
I always liked the older Suntour gear as it was a bit more exclusive than most others of that period. I picked up a few Suntour xc Pro bits for the drivetrain and brakes with xc Pro front and rear mechs, xc Pro thumbshifters, along with xc pro self energising cantilevers.
On the seating and steering front I again stuck to the UK theme with a USE titanium seatpost, X-lite titanuim kevlar saddle, X-lite xlr titanium bars, x-lite stubbie pro bar ends and X-lite chicken stix in 3dv. The stem is a rare Look Titanium from '97 and is one of the few non period correct bits but looks lovely so it had to go on. Excuse the grips are I'm waiting on some ODI attacks to arrive!
Other finishing bits include Charge Splashback tires which are modern with that retro look, Schwalbe light tubes, period correct Crud Catcher, x-lite seat qr, jagwire cables and various titanium bolts (bottle cage,thumbshifters,bar-ends etc).
So...onto the ride
On the trails it feels nimble and fast, just how I imagined. It climbs as good as anything I've ever ridden and I knocked over two minutes off my PB on a 9 minute climb which I usually complete on my more modern MC Fury. Singletrack is great fun as long as you pick the right line and don't forget that the forks dont have the safety net of modern longer travel models.
Future upgrades include a titanium fork steerer, xtr cassette and period correct chainrings.
Delighted with this bike and hope you like it too!
The final build weight is 9.77kg ( ~21.5 lbs!)
Here are some pics...
The 19" Tange Prestige Superlight frame weighed in at 1999 grams which wasn't a bad start.
I decided as many parts as possible should be from a UK brand in keeping with the Orange theme. That meant copious amounts of USE, X-lite, Hope and Pace.
The first addition was a set of Pace RC35's which were a must have for an Orange of this vintage. I added the Stage 2 Titanium upgrade kit to save those few precious grams
So up next was the wheelset, a nice hope titanium rear, middleburn front hub both laced with db spokes to Mavic 217 rims, with an M737 8 speed cassette and USE titanium spinstix skewers finishing them off.
For the bottom bracket I went with a Hope titanium with a Middleburn RS3 crankset (3dv spider) attached at either end! (pedals are currently modern spds which I feel are more reliable for now)
I always liked the older Suntour gear as it was a bit more exclusive than most others of that period. I picked up a few Suntour xc Pro bits for the drivetrain and brakes with xc Pro front and rear mechs, xc Pro thumbshifters, along with xc pro self energising cantilevers.
On the seating and steering front I again stuck to the UK theme with a USE titanium seatpost, X-lite titanuim kevlar saddle, X-lite xlr titanium bars, x-lite stubbie pro bar ends and X-lite chicken stix in 3dv. The stem is a rare Look Titanium from '97 and is one of the few non period correct bits but looks lovely so it had to go on. Excuse the grips are I'm waiting on some ODI attacks to arrive!
Other finishing bits include Charge Splashback tires which are modern with that retro look, Schwalbe light tubes, period correct Crud Catcher, x-lite seat qr, jagwire cables and various titanium bolts (bottle cage,thumbshifters,bar-ends etc).
So...onto the ride
On the trails it feels nimble and fast, just how I imagined. It climbs as good as anything I've ever ridden and I knocked over two minutes off my PB on a 9 minute climb which I usually complete on my more modern MC Fury. Singletrack is great fun as long as you pick the right line and don't forget that the forks dont have the safety net of modern longer travel models.
Future upgrades include a titanium fork steerer, xtr cassette and period correct chainrings.
Delighted with this bike and hope you like it too!
The final build weight is 9.77kg ( ~21.5 lbs!)
Here are some pics...
