P7 Project

OK, here's the story.

This project began last year (200.
A friend who I go biking with was chatting with me about past bikes and happened to mention that he still had this p7 frame sitting in his parents garage. It hadn't been used in sometime and he couldn't really remember exactly what other parts might still be attached to the frame.

Now I don't like seeing things going to waste and I like having 'projects' to work on and doing things the way I like to be done. So I asked my mate whether he'd thought about doing anything with it and he didn't seem that keen. A few more rides later and I mention it again and he seems a bit keener. I guess it was taking up space in the garage and very slowly decaying. He also mentioned he had a set of wheels for it ! So before not too long I got the frame and forks of a 1995 orange p7, soon followed by some nice wheels at an extremely reasonable price. In fact I felt a little guilty getting it for relatively little and was hoping I hadn't pestered him into it.

My basic plan was to do a re-build using original parts where they were available in new or nearly new condition at a reasonable price. I didn't want to get too perfectionist about it in terms of orignality though. I wanted to have the bike as a 'spare' for friends or relatives to use, and have some fun building it up. I guess secretly I was hoping to get my wife riding with me a little !

The general condition of the frame and forks seemed ok. No signs of damage other than the finish. It was a nickel plated finish with lacquering over the top. The lacquer had flaked off in lots of places, the frame had lots of little tiny corrosion spots, the nickel finish had actually come completely off on the undrside of the BB and there were some pretty heavy scratches on the fork and seatstays. I was torn between building this up on the cheap or having it re-plated or sprayed properly.

The frame had a set of cranks, bb, headset and front mech on it.
Unfortunately the headset was quite gritty and had a bit of play. The bb was ok-ish but the chainrings on the cranks were pretty shot...and being stx-rc had a rather odd bolt circle diameter.

The frame sat in my house whilst I tried to work out if this project was going to be a goer. I decided the chainset had to go. Also the bottom bracket was a little worrying as it was one with a metal non-drive side fitting and I didn't want to get the bike working only to have the bb packup later and find it was hard to remove.

Initially it was looking dodgy. The cranks came off ok but the bottom bracket was still a cause for concern. I decide to have a go at shifting the bb. After much overnight soaking with wd40 it still wouldn't budge. Also I was concerned about getting a replacement headset as new 1" threaded headsets were not exactly growing on trees. I was dreading that I would not be able to find a replacement or ...at least one with a low enough stack height.

The next thing that happened was by complete chance a brand new identical headset appeared in a clearout on chainreaction. So I purhcased this and it spurred me on. I resorted to a local bike shop to see if the BB would come off with some more substantial tools. They came good and the bb was removed. There was a bit of surface rust in the bottom bracket but nothing too bad. I managed to clean it up with some gentle wire brushing.

I then had a go at cleaning the frame up. Firstly gentle and with some soapy water, then something a bit stronger. I also tested some of the worst bits of the frame with some light-sanding but it wasn't coming up that well. So having sorted the vital bits (bb and headset) and established that the project was worth doing.. I started to look around for resprays. I have always liked oranges ever since i had a clockwork around 89/90 and it was very tempting to try and make it look good. In the end I decided to hang the expense and it get it blasted and painted properly by argos in Bristol. I went for a metaliic silvery colour that, whilst not original, had an early 90s look about it and also looked like it was something orange might have used. Some more recent silver finishes on orange bikes also convinced me of this. So around Christmas time I posted the frame forks, headset and BB off to argos and waited patiently.

Pic coming in next post....

...so in January, the frame and forks came back from Argos beautifully painted and with the new headset and BB fitted. Here's a pic...

The logos on the frame are modern style Orange, but the white with black edge looks a little like those on the only slightly later P7 to me (red one). I have to admit I do like the orange 'script' style logo on the downtube a lot and I have never been a fan of the more blocky logos that were originally on the frame (and are also on current p7s).

The paint is just what I was after and changes a bit depending on the light. In bright light it is quite shiny and appears almost white, whilst up close or in shadow it looks darker but still sparkles. This close up gives a better idea (excuse dots of mud from a test ride).

Next job was starting to assemble more parts. The frame had come with a front mech which was original STX-RC. I believe this was a 7-speed groupset, although a bit of digging suggested that these parts should cope with 8-speed if run with the right cassette and shifters. So, as the mech fitted the frame and I didn't especially want to get rid of what was an otherwise ok original part, I had a go at sprucing it up. The top and bottom adjustment screws were pretty rusty and the heads looked pretty bad after just a few turns, so I sourced some replacement bolts and whilst I waited for them to arrive I set about cleaning the mech up. After some degreaser, a rinse a little gt85 it looked pretty good. The replacement bolts arrived - alloy bolts from pro-bolt with allen heads. They provde a little long, but some careful work with a hacksaw and file saw to that and soon I had a working mech almost as good as new.

I had also managed to find a Ritchey seatpost brand new for a fiver. OK, not strictly period, but it didn't look too out of place. You can see it in the pics above.

OK, here's a pic of the build in progress (note a few parts have changed since). The best bits in my opinon are the wheels and frame. Elsewhere I have gone fairly for modest bits - some used NOS stuff (if readily availabe in good nick and reasonable price) and some modern-ish where needed. There will be a spec sheet added later

Oops, missed the pic somehow....try again...

Orange p7 - spec sheet added etc

Note: more updates to come in 2011 . New pics will be added on following pages.
Frame: 1995 Orange p7 re-finished in gloss metallic silver

Fork: Orange F7 rigid fork

Headset: Shimano STX, blue endura cover for lower race
Stem: Kona Velocity with blue Ti bolts * (replacing the ART stem in above pic)
Handlebar: Easton Carbon CT2 flat bar
Grips: Club Roost
Barends: N/A

Brakes: Shimano Deore XT rear and STX front cantilevers (replacing Deore V shown in above pic)
Brake Pads: OEM
Brake Cables: Deore XT - M System
Cantilever cable hangers: Shimano
Brake Levers: Shimano Deore LX integrated brake and gear with black alloy bolts

Shifters: Deore LX integrated (right hand 8-spd)
Front Derailleur: Shimano STX-RC with pro-bolt alloy adjuster bolts
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Deore (not period)
Derailleur Cables: Shimano Deore XT
Cassette: Shimano LX 8-spd
Chain: Shimano IG70
Cranks: FSA/RPM (not period)
Crank Bolts: FSA
Chainrings: FSA
Chainring bolts: FSA
Bottom Bracket: Shimano square taper (un54)
Pedals: Shimano Deore LX with clips and straps (now have black straps), blue alloy bolts for toe clips

Hub Skewers: Original Shimano LX (I think)
Rims: Lemon-yellow Mavic SUP X517
Hubs: Hope Ti-glide (blue)
Spokes and nipples: unknown
Tyres: Panaracer Mach SK rear, Kenda Blue Groove front
Tubes: Continental

Saddle: Selle-Italia now fitted (not the red thing in the above thing)
Seatpost: Ritchey (basic alloy one)
Seatpost Binder: Brand-x alloy nuts with Titanium bolt

Bottle cage: Blackburn silver alloy with blue alloy bolts
Bottle: Ritchey
Other: baby-blue Lizard skins chainstay protector

(* Note this stem comes from the same factory as the orange sk8 and the only differences are the finish, the clamp and the addition of the cable routing. Needed this stem over sk8 because of the cable routing, and length)

Weight: not yet known

Hope you like this.
Ultimately I'd like to change a few bits to make the spec a bit more mid-90s, but obviously I'm not doing a perfect retro build and its plenty good enough for now.

Parts I'd really like to get are a more appropriate seatpost (ideas ?), and possibly a different chainset (8spd compatible maybe xt).

...and a newer pic or two:

Good write up, the frame finish looks good - and of course its one of the finest frames ever made

That was a really enjoyable read, RLY. And I agree with Fingers -- I think that the 1995 P7 is one of the best frames ever. I'd love to have my own one day.