RETRO 95' Orange P7 project

[GeorgeQ]

Hello!

First off let me say howdy and thanks to everyone in these forums for inadvertantly helping me so far with all your useful posts, this forum is a wealth of information. This is my first proper bike and I have a very poor knowledge of parts/terminology which i am hoping to improve, so apologies in advance..

I was looking someone all rounder, so after some research & reading brilliant reviews, I decided to go retro and began my hunt for an oldschool Orange P7...

Eventually I found one! a 17" nickel plated bike in more than acceptable condition with the original grips, saddle, shifters etc.. everything except the pedals and the ROCKSHOX Quadro suspension... :shock:

and here she is in all her nickelly & orangey glory:

I've been told these are the original grips. Sadly as you can see theres a bit of rust. It's pretty stuborn I've tried a bit of brasso and wire wool on a small section to no avail, any ideas?

The original enduro saddle is REALLY worn as you can see.. so I'll be after one of those. Also there is really stubborn rust on the seatpost, which looks like black horizontal lines. Maybe the plating is worn off? Any ideas?

sadly can't live with these :roll:

As you can see, with the rust and wearing I will be in need of some new bits and pieces.

Also, as for dating this bike I'm going by what I've read on these forums, e.g. serial number starts A9503... so march 95'? confirmation on this would be great.

As for the forks I really wanted to keep it straight and simple and get back to the rigid forks which I am advised are F7's... Otheriwise its ye olde pace rc35's, which would be really very tricky for me to find the right ones as I'm a total novice.

If I was to go rigid and get f7's, how do I make sure i get the right length fork for a 17" frame?

ANY ideas and information or advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated !

I will continue to post up progress of this project, and I'm already learning that patience is the key in this bike building game

 

[Anthony]

Yes, it is a 95 P7, and it looks pretty good too. Always a classic.

You're restricted obviously to forks with 1" steerers, which makes things a little more difficult. A rare NOS F7 was sold on eBay just the other day, but decent ones do come up from time to time. As you say, an RC35 is an alternative, but an early RC36 is a better fork. Both have removeable steerers, so even if you can only find one in 1 1/8, you should be able to find a 1" steerer separately and you would then need a shim as well.

You need a threaded steerer c120mm long, but a longer one would do - you can cut it down if there's enough thread, but even if there isn't, you should be able to find somebody to turn a thread onto a plain piece of steerer.

If you do go for a longer fork, the long stem will be a bit of a liability - long fork with short stem, yes, or short fork with long stem, but not long with long.

The saddle looks as though it would be ok with a bit of leather balsam treatment. If you don't want it, please send it to me.

I think you just need to keep at it with the wire wool to get rid of the surface rust. Or you could just forget it's there and spend your time riding the thing instead of polishing it. Much more fun!

 

[GeorgeQ]

cheers anthony, priceless info that I'm sure this will help my mission!
i can't wait to get these forks sorted and get out on it! I'll bear you in mind for the saddle

 

[geetee61]

May I suggest lots and lots of Autosol metal polish ? Used it a lot on my 95 P7 frame and here's the finish. It will also take off any tatty bits of laquer without damaging the chrome/nickel finish. When you're happy it's worth giving the frame a good coat of quality car wax.

 

[GeorgeQ]

May I suggest lots and lots of Autosol metal polish ? Used it a lot on my 95 P7 frame and here's the finish. It will also take off any tatty bits of laquer without damaging the chrome/nickel finish. When you're happy it's worth giving the frame a good coat of quality car wax.

you've done a great job on that! It looks mean :twisted:

 

[geetee61]

Also..... if you are unable to get rid of all the surface rust there is always the option of repainting or powder coating. I would recommend the latter of the two. This 97 P7 frame was in a pretty sorry state when I bought it on RB for £65 ( see 1st pic ). A few weeks later I found myself a local powder coater and for the princely sum of £70.... (see 2nd pic )... This is the result !!! P.S. I always wanted an "Orange"Orange.!!!

 

[GeorgeQ]

I always wanted an "Orange"Orange.!!!

Haha makes perfect sense to me mate, looks really nice!

I think it's great the way you can make a frame very unique and personal with powder coating, but I'm still not sure if I'd be brave enough to cover this nickel just yet!

Still on the look out for some nice f7 forks so I suppose i'll just to keep on polishing for now utill some come up (as I'm assured they do :? )

 

[GeorgeQ]

Chanced upon some good perfectly straight but slightly crusty F7s yesterday! Woohoo!

I'm feeling the classic nickel but I fear it might be a powder coating job, not too sure which way to go, so I'll try and just clean things up a bit for now and see how it comes out.

Now it's time to prepare both forks and frame, then some soft wire wool and some elbow grease to take off the shabby lacquer that's on there. If it's looking good after that, I'll get both frame & forks re-lacquered then add some fresh decals...

More to come!

 

[james1985]

Mines looking a bit ropey now

 

[Eddie King]

Chanced upon some good perfectly straight but slightly crusty F7s yesterday...I'm feeling the classic nickel but I fear it might be a powder coating job, not too sure which way to go, so I'll try and just clean things up a bit for now and see how it comes out

Check out a vintage motorcycle magazine....there's plenty of people out there who can replate or chrome your forks....just have to be sure they're structurally sound....and it'll probably cost a lot less than you think

My £0.002 has just expired