Crazy impulse buy.. ORBIT something,,, What is it? and WHY??

Hi all... got somewhat distracted while looking for bits for the clockwork rebuild, and spotted an old "orbit" in among my gumtree searches sort of got my attention as it looked a bit '80s with the old c'spanner style bottom bracket, 15 speed, centre-pull cantis.

Having had a look good read of Was8v's rather tidy 531 rebuild and the Orbit information thread I ventured down for a look

Looking led to opening of wallet, and parting with a very modest sum of money. Seller couldn't tell me much about it and all the decals have long gone, and layers of patchy rattle can paint in both green and black.



Flattering photos first, it does look a lot better when you squint...


Yup, its an Orbit frame


Mismatched thumbies and rather nasty plastic brake levers, no idea what might be original or not!


Cranks, chainrings and pedals don't look at all quality. One piece chainring set and plastic pedals.


Back wheel, ancient MACH1 rim with 5-speed cassette. more rust than spokes. Fleks of pink under the bad rattle can refinish on the stays.


Front wheel marked, rim marked ALESA and alarmingly bolted on with wrong type of nuts and a pair of mangled flat washers :shock:

Still can't decide if it's a thing of beauty or hideous monstrosity

Wouldn't mind knowing what it Might have been originally and rough date for it if anyone knows. Frame seems pretty lightweight. May well end up as a commuter hackaround for me this one, other than that and fancying seeing the frame in yellow, I've not yet formed strong ideas of what to do with it so suggestions welcome

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Orbit frontier 87-89 ish

Cheers for the ID Charlieboy. Taken a look at a few other frontears and looks about right. It was even available in pink .

Been in the garage putting on the Specialized GX26 rims on XT hubs that were on the clockwork on temporarily while I assess the state of the sh**ty wheels. Quick glance back and suddenly I'm seeing potential Them cranks and pedals have gotta go though.

Would like to see this restored and wearing some nicer clothes!

Good find though, nothing lost even if you give up, but strip down with some more sympathetic parts and it could be lovely

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Well - here goes...

Getting frame ready for powder coat. Sulphur Yellow RAL1016 is my choice..


No doubt what it was now.. hmm, pink and yellow. Tastefull!


Starting to line up various potential bits that might work with the rebuild..

A bit of an update.. the frame, fork and bars back from the powder coaters (DFB Contracting services, Sheepbridge Lane Chesterfield - Top job of sandblasting and powder coating for forty quid, plugged all the threaded bits too.


I'm trying to keep the budget down low on this, its only a Reynolds 501 frame so no expense spent here. The cheap option is "Mr Decal" inkjet paper, I made some vector graphics tracing out in inkscape, printed them on my ageing Epson Photo R200, then here they are after a couple of lacquer coats to seal the ink in. Will post if this is a success or not


My new hobby of wheel building - these are my wheel builds number 3 and 4. The hubs are Deore XT, which had damaged and well worn specialised rims (never happy to run on questionable wheels, I'm quite heavy and adverse to collapsing bike parts). Really am super happy with how these have turned out with new Mavic 317 rims and nipples, built up and straightened real nice.

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Loving that you're giving this a new lease of life, nice work on the decals . I'm not a fan of V's on canti frames, particularly the more vintage ones, but that's just me

Interesting choice of colour :? Im sure not to everybodys taste but its nice, understated despite being quite bright :?
Look forward to seeing the complete build


Might be an idea to do a practice or 2 first with the decals . Just so you know any potential issues before they strike on the real one. Be a shame to get to this stage and have to risk thinners on the powdercoat trying to get the lacquer off to redo them
Just a suggestion

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Nice work so far, signing up to see how this one progresses.

I did a yellow Orbit myself last year which initially turned out quite well, here's the thread viewtopic.php?f=6&t=253955&hilit=black+country+steel Unfortunately the powdercoaters must have messed up somewhere in the process and it's now sitting up the loft rotting through the paintwork, can't bear to look at it I'm that gutted.

Anyway back to your project, looking forward to however you build her up, old stuff or modern, it all bolts on and off .

Love the colour. I have a yellow orange the same with sparkle lacquer. Good taste!