Orange Prestige Collection 1991, 92,93 builds...

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I can see the headlines already "Man in South Wales blamed for global shortage of Retro Orange bikes"

Some collection you've got and dedication to one brand!

firedfromthecircus":h5tsf5ms said:

I see you have an orange thing going on.
Your name isn't William is it?

Never been that clued up on Orange. What was the hierarchy with Orange back in the day? P7, Clockwork, Prestige, O?

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.. The hierarchy BITD was Clockwork, prestige, aluminum o, Aluminum elite, Vit T.. with the choice of groupsets lx,dx,xt,xtr, suntour xc comp, pro.. you could Taylor the bikes as well, with different stalk stem, have pace forks etc..

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groovyblueshed":2hmsdjxr said:

Like buses... a lovely collection of 3 Prestiges coming along at once. I particularly like the '91 with the white bars and Stalk – this is giving me news ideas for mine – I've recently acquired a battered but sound black Stalk. Have to say also that the '92 and '93 are most purpliciously funky too. I should be working but I'm too distracted now by the thought of Prestiges glinting in golden autumn sunlight filtering through the canopies of woodland trails...

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Thanks very much for the kind comments .. like a splattering of purple. The USE seatposts were commonly used in the early nineties, and were an up grade that you could have when buying a new orange. The Orange 92/93 brochure shows this, so it seemed an obvious and natural choice to add alittle colour...

Yes thanks the pink prestige will appear soon, almost there on parts now (xc pro). You've had the same idea regarding using early Pace rigid forks, I had that in mind for the pink Prestige. Even more so now I've seen yours.[/quote]

Can't wait to see it, lots of pictures....
Yeah the Pace Rc30 forks do go well, I had them with the purchase of the frame...

Thanks Dyna col.. brand loyalty possibly, it's more a case as a 10-15 year old (90-95) I was obsessed with mountain biking... and my dream bikes were Oranges.. I couldn't afford much back then, but saved up and bought a Clockwork 93 with suntour! But even so I had a GT, univega other brands around the same golden time!

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Orange obsession. I was hooked when I realised I lived just a few miles the other side of the hill to Orange's factory and a couple of dealers. I was back at my parents place after moving back from Cardiff following redundancy. I'd lost my Marin in Cardiff too so was bikeless. I cheered myself up reading MBUK, etc and visiting dealers to drool over lovely mountain bikes and anodised trick kit. The Oranges just stood out and caught my imagination. At some point, I visited a new/just opened bike shop run by a guy who worked with Steve and Lester developing bikes at Orange. He had a spare frame and forks going. I'd saved up enough by then too so I bought an unstickered 89/90 Clockwork frame (although it looks like a Prestige – I've never been really sure) with some new fangled shiny F7 forks, all for £175. I then built up the bike with my own choice of bits: DX, Onza, Zoom... The bike has been with me for about 23/24 years.