1995 Orange E3 Team

richj

Retro Newbie
Hello,

Just though I'd share this - my 1995 Orange E3 Team.

I hadn't ridden it in over a decade, but my little lad goes too fast and too far on his Specialized Hotwalk for me to just run now.

I've had it 13 or 14 years. Second owner, and I have known it from new (I was riding a Gary Fisher at the time). It had Girvin alloy forks from 1995-1998, and a different headset/stem. Frame is the original lacquered finish. Was something like a £2k purchase when new!

It had refresh in 1998 with Rockshox SIDs (no negative air spring) with new bars, stem (Controltech/Modus) and headset (Rond) and some new XT/XTR cables and kit. And then it got replaced by a Klein Attitude, and I picked up a bargain before the turn of the century.

I think it was a custom build from day one, as the purple Hope hubs, some wierd imperial sized titanium (?) bottom bracket (for which i've never found the right tools to extract), USB seat post, Ritchey Vector saddle, Mavic wheels are all original and not the OEM hardware Orange were supplying at the time.

Tyres are the only changes since then, although my Cannondale GT40 bottle cage disintegrated. Which is how I found this forum - trying to buy some retro bottle cages to replace them.

I've found a couple of Syncros cages, and i've got a couple of NOS OrangeBikes water bottles to put in them.

I do have a couple of questions though:
- can anyone suggest an oil for the Resi-wiper seal at the top of the SIDs The user manual says 'Teflon-fortified', but I've can't remember either what I used to use?
- if I swap my little lad onto a Hotrock 12" is the back-pedal brake going to be a pain? Can it be swapped/changed to a freewheel?

Cheers,
Rich

OrangeE3Team.jpg
 

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