Very early Orange Clockwork.

[Tootyred]

Nice project...I know you will make it good again.

 

[brocklanders023]

Thanks guys, just need to shake off this bloody corona virus and I might get time and energy to strip this down.

 

[Andy T]

Were the cables originally white?

 

[brocklanders023]

As far as I'm aware Andy, the original owner reckoned it was basically as it came from the shop.

 

[AGT]

After several failed attempts, torrential rain and a motorway closure later I am the happy owner of this belter! I have been unable to get to the serial number yet but it is a very early Orange Clockwork, either 88 or 89, purchased in the summer of 89 by the person that sold it to me.

He is a long time member of the Penrith cycling community and is friends with Lester Noble as well as plenty of other familiar Orange faces from the past. He told me he went to the shop with the intention of buying a Marin Pine Mountain but was convinced to go for this new brand instead! He still has the original bill of sale along with plenty of other retro Orange content and it was a pleasure to chat for a couple of hours. There's the possibility of a Penrith retro ride so I'll update in due course.

Where this fits in to the cross over between Tushingham and Orange is open to debate but the original owner told me it was one of the first 100 Orange bikes and as can be seen by the features, it shares more with the Muddy Fox of the time than the more regular 89 Clockwork's, especially the cable stops. It is also sized differently to usual Orange's with a 17.5 inch seat tube c to t and a shorter top tube. Interestingly the head tube is longer than the 89 norm for the size so it seems they went from this to a racier position before changing again around 91.

I was told that the bike is pretty much original with only a few worn out parts replaced. I noted that the Ground Control was a replacement so this differed from the usual 89's by having Panaracer tyres, an Avocet saddle (rather than the OEM), Araya rims instead of Mavic and a different style stem to the Stalk that is more often seen.

Plans for this go no further than a full strip down and clean, possibly new cables, grips and removal of the bar ends. It has plenty of patina but the colour and decals are still bright and not faded so it should clean up well. Well pleased with this one, let's see how it turns out!
View attachment 608752View attachment 608753View attachment 608754View attachment 608755View attachment 608756View attachment 608757View attachment 608758View attachment 608759View attachment 608761View attachment 608762

I am the new custodian of this lovely bike.

I was able to get to the serial number today (with help).

View attachment 875840

I think that's 9D59214

9 means 1989?

Does anyone know what the rest means?

ETA. I think the serial number is A9D59214

 

[Black_puma]

Lovely bike, I love bright colours! It may not be pristine, but those little marks add character!

 

[brocklanders023]

Good to meet you and chat retro Andrew! It's certainly a different serial number to the usual Orange so backs up what we were talking about and built in a different factory. It's worth asking the Muddy Fox fans so I'll post something up.

 

[MR OX]

I'll have to recheck the number on mine, the original "Is it an Orange or a lemon" thread I did for mine appears to have disappeared.

 

[AGT]

 

[brocklanders023]

Cleaned up really well mate.