Yet another Orange P7 Rescue

[JuicyOrange]

Hi Everyone, I'm Luke first post so be gentle :facepalm: I've been an Orange fanboi for a while and have a couple already (a 1997-98 02 and a 2012 G3). I always wanted a P7 when I was younger and had a C16 for a while, few days back a satin black STX-RC 1994 P7 A40801104 came up on eBay that looked good enough for some love so I took the plunge, never see that many of these in black. First impression was that I did well for the price, the guy I bought it off had the original Hot Rod bar as it had some horrid cross bar on and some replacement XT shifters so I took these as well.

Tyres and inner tubes were shot
Brake pads are shot
Shifter not working
No peddles
Frame has a lot of missing paint
General age related corrosion but nothing major

First off I was planning to repaint and decal the frame as per standard, waiting on Gil to see if the decals can be done but not certain on this yet. Fit some V-Brakes and freshen it up and maybe fit some retro shocks.

Today I picked it up and put on some bits I had lying about to get the wheels rolling, refitted the hot rod bars and replacement shifters. Aparently its only done about 200 miles since new, apart from the frame knocks from storage I can believe that. The seat post seemed to have the original lube on it I seem to remember my old C16 had and the Mavic rims are spotless and true as is the chainset apart from some surface rust. Here are the pics

As I got it


Hot rod and shifters and some non stale rubber


Bit of surface rust\corrosion


Cleaned up (not finished but better)


More


Cleaner


Another one in the shed!


Time to mull over what to do with the frame.

 

[Cheshire1980]

A bargain, £60, plus original spec, a good clean and grease and few minor adjustments and you've got a great bike. I wouldn't change much myself, other than perhaps getting some fresh decals. Anyway welcome to retro bike!

 

[JuicyOrange]

Thanks Cheshire, It was worth the 200 mile round trip. I'll get some better pics with a proper camera in due course, the rims are practically unmarked the pads weren't even scuffed in but are like solid blocks of metal now, nothing has any play, even the bottom bracket feels smooth as does the headset. Part of me thinks it should be kept as is and used like it should have been, I've ordered the decals so I have them and the paint missing from storage is plentiful which is a shame, I'll see what my local powder guys colour match is like when I visit him nothing is set in stone.

Either way it will be cherished and ridden! I've hankered after one of these for a while.

 

[Silvergoat]

Re:

£60? Bargain! Despite the charming character of its patina, that P7 looks good to me! It's always good see some more Oranges and it's great that you've found the bike you've been hankering after too.

 

[MR OX]

Re:

I was watching this, great buy! Also nice to see someone else whose not afraid of a road trip.
Welcome to the forum, I'm fairly new myself. There's a great bunch of people here.
Looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

[tintin40]

Good project

 

[JuicyOrange]

Thanks everyone, feel really lucky to have this one, I've got some pics from me racing a C16 back in the day I'll dig out. Today I changed out the old cantilevers for some black Deore V-brakes put on some spds, I'm keeping all the old parts to swap back if need be, I changed the front tyre for a racing ralph 2.25, have a 2.1 on the rear. I actually managed to fix the old STX-RC 7 speed shifter, it just needed some lube and love and its now perfect but the XT ones on there now are working faultlessly so they can stay for now.





Thoughts are I'll have the decals soon but I'm just going to get out and ride it, maybe do some local events on it, its an amazing ride hardly any effort required, rides as new and I love it compared to my other Alu frames. My short ride this afternoon turned into a longer one as I enjoyed it so much! Its brilliant and I love it!

 

[emjay]

Nice to see another Orange fan, welcome to the forum Luke.

 

[Gremmers]

Re:

Great to see another P7 on here. I am restoring my 1995 one at the moment - need to do a build thread on here. I got my decals from Gil a couple of months ago, excellent service and quality.

 

[Cetim]

Re:

Nice find. You did well for that price too.

I've a 95 or 96 P7 that I built and rebuilt a number of times. Can never seem to settle on what I want to do with it. It's now on rigid forks and road tyres for commuting use. I had it single speed last year but couldn't get on with it.