A retro Orange dilemma

Hi there, I'm new to the forum and I have a retro dilemma.

I used to have a 1993 Orange Clockwork as shown here in silver/turq but with the original non-suspension forks:



It was very light and agile, perfect for the kind of riding I like to do, but I lost it somewhere along the way.

I later purchased this 2009 Orange G2 in black and silver, brand new from a shop in London in 2010 for £550

https://www.orangebikes.co.uk/archive/2009/g2/

I've found it to be very solid and heavy so it sticks to the road, probably perfect for commuters who ride in heavy London traffic, but not so good for countryside riding. I've only used it maybe 10 or 15 times to go riding, so it's still in very good condition.

I need a lighter bike, such as the 1993 Orange I had previously, for example this one currently on eBay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/orange-clock ... 3190637696

But I'm not sure whether to buy a complete retro bike, and then try and sell the G2, or to buy a retro Orange frame and forks, and then move all the components from the G2 onto the retro Orange frame, if the components would even fit properly on the older frame?

Or maybe I could swap the G2 for a retro Orange, but would anyone want the G2 ? There are no G2's selling on eBay which could be due to their popularity or the opposite. I don't have the space in my flat in London for two bikes, hence the dilemma..

Re:

The clockwork you link to is very nice, looks to be very original and no doubt would come up beautifully with a deep clean.

Why would you want to swap the components from the G2 :? you'd probably spoil what makes the clockwork special doing so :| if you cant keep two bikes id be looking at getting the clockwork and moving on the G2

...if only you could get the Clockwork at the £270 its up at right now

edit: the ebay sale has nothing to do with me

Re:

If I were you I'd wait for a full bike to come up for sale as you'll get better value. That ebay one is over priced in my opinion, you can pick decent 1993 Clockworks up for less than £100.

If you sell the G2 you should be able to get enough from that to pay for a Clockwork and save yourself the bother of swapping everything.

I actually had just the bike you were after the other week but sold it on here!

Re:

I'd wait for a Complete Clockwork that you like to come up for sale.
It's almost always more cost effective to buy a Complete bike than buy a frame and then buy the parts go on the frame.

If you swapped the parts over from the G2 you have to a Clockwork frame then I think you'd run into compatibility issues. Some of the parts simply wouldn't fit on the clockwork (forks, headset, stem, seat post, front mech etc might all be different sizes to what the Clockwork needs).

Might be best to put the G2 up for sale first, and use the money from the sale to buy a Clockwork. Or buy the Clockwork and somehow live with 2 bikes till the G2 sells.

Re: Re:

brocklanders023":sdnyegnp said:

If I were you I'd wait for a full bike to come up for sale as you'll get better value. That ebay one is over priced in my opinion, you can pick decent 1993 Clockworks up for less than £100.



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Click to expand...

You aint gonna get one like in the OPs ebay link for £100 dude !!!

Re:

Yes, thanks for the advice. I think as everybody says, I will buy a Clockwork and then keep the G2 until somebody buys it. I can probably take the wheels off and store it somewhere for a few months.

The clockwork in the ebay listing does look nice, although it's to be collected from Yorkshire, which is a bit far for me being in London, and it also has quite a few dents/scratches to the paintwork..

Re:

I have to agree that buying a full bike is more cost effective. I'd also concur that £100 would not get you a great example unless you got lucky. The one you linked to is in great shape and probably over priced based on the lx parts, but it does have some nice and rare suspension forks.

Slightly controversially, I wonder if the G2 feels heavy because of the suspension forks. I had a titanium bike which always felt like a bit of a dog until I swapped out the suspension forks for some rigid ones. It completely transformed the ride.

Dart forks are horrendous, heavy and not very good. Even compared to a mid 90s pace.

It's also worth remembering that the clockwork was a ~£650 raceable xc bike 25 years ago. Then you added £300 worth of (for the time) decent suspension. A comparable bike would have been nearer £1500-1800 in 2010.

I'm not surprised that nearly 2 decades of changing fashion and inflation got you a heavier bike designed for a completely different sort of riding, I'm not familiar enough with oranges range when you bought the g2, but i don't even think they did a comparable bike to the clockwork then!

Re:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163198304142

You’d need to consider whether you’re up for a paint restoration and check the rust near the rear dropouts... but this could be a decent buy imo. Sale is nothing to do with me by the way.