Hand brazed British Steel: Orbit 531 circa '90

<shuffles feet>

<looks at the ground>

If, er, you get, um, bored of it...

legrandefromage":fnp3afus said:

<shuffles feet>

<looks at the ground>

If, er, you get, um, bored of it...

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I think you have plenty of british steel already!

Looked it over today, and I'm convinced it has hardly been used, just left damp at some point. The rims show no braking surface wear, its running meaty shimano brake blocks, no polished bits (from shoes) on the cranks, Velo GelTech seat still with gel in it, black seatpost with no scratches, and covered in old grease (lets hope the BB comes out as easy!).

Scraped the rust off the BB (slightly concerned around seat tube, will wire brush before getting it blasted) and revealed the frame number, possibly confirming my 1990 hunch (from the rims and crossover Exage country / 300LX components).

The fork is very familiar and I've noticed it on a whole load of British handmade bikes of the era - anyone know about it?

Quick run down of how we start:

Frame & Fork: Orbit 531
Stem: Quill
Handlebar: Faded Classic Bullhorn
Brakes: Exage Country
Brifters: Exage 300LX
Derailleurs: Exage 300LX
Cranks: Exage 300LX
Rims: Mavic Oxygen M6
Saddle: Velo GelTech

was8v":sa2yfvam said:

I think you have plenty of british steel already!

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You can never have too much of a good thing.

Very nice!

A shop local to us used to stock these, the owner had a Reynolds 653 framed Orbit with XT components, I have a brochure and price list tucked away somewhere, will dig them out and do some scans....

Cheers
Stu

stu":19c1kqtu said:

Very nice!

A shop local to us used to stock these, the owner had a Reynolds 653 framed Orbit with XT components, I have a brochure and price list tucked away somewhere, will dig them out and do some scans....

Cheers
Stu

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That would be brilliant if you can stu! There's not much info about Orbits on the web (yet!)....

I'm going to be making some new decals for this - so if you have the logo on a brochure pretty please could you do a high res scan of the logo too?

Have you tried contacting them? It looks like they are still in business.

You never know, they may be able to provide you with some decals, or at least some artwork.

I've found a couple of road frames on the bay, and they used to produce some pretty interesting paint schemes.

Hi Neil,

Had a search through my brochures and found them

Will try and figure a way to get better quality scans but here are some to be getting on with, missed out all the road bikes.....















Cheers
Stu

Hey Stu, how's that bike of yours coming along?

Nice scans and LOOOOOK they did a lo-pro :shock: ohhh I gotta get me one of those.

Hi Neil,

They did some great stuff, would love a 653 Cyclocross frame & fork....

Erm, stripped it down but haven't done anything yet, spent a few hours today wrestling with my Genesis CdF and some SKS mudguards :?

Cheers
Stu

stu":3u6t6vyf said:

Hi Neil,

Had a search through my brochures and found them

Will try and figure a way to get better quality scans but here are some to be getting on with, missed out all the road bikes.....

Cheers
Stu

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Do you know the year of that catalogue mate?