Orange E3 frame

I managed to get an Orange E3 frame, a pair of RC35 Monobox MXCD, circa 1995-1996 forks and an old USE purple seat post and shim for £110 and decided that it would be a good rebuild project.

I wanted to know the head tube size for a headset and stem (I haven't decided whether it's to be a quill or ahead). The length of the steerer tube suggests a ahead setup. The steerer tube is 1 inch.

I couldn't find out anything on the Orange site.

I measured the head tube and it appears to be 37mm externally and 30mm internally. This seems too large for a 1 inch headset, or am I miscalculating something? :?

I'm fairly sure all E3's were 1". my '96 was and all others i've come across have too. E4 went 1.1/8".

rtichey logic headsets are pretty good and cheap.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ritc ... -prod89196 be quick 3 left!


cheers.

TrevorKershaw":z36ekqy0 said:

I wanted to know the head tube size for a headset and stem (I haven't decided whether it's to be a quill or ahead). The length of the steerer tube suggests a ahead setup. The steerer tube is 1 inch.

I measured the head tube and it appears to be 37mm externally and 30mm internally. This seems too large for a 1 inch headset, or am I miscalculating something? :?

Click to expand...

30mm ID is correct for a 1" headset.

Cheers Folks.

Hi Folks,
I have removed the decals and lacquer from the frame, which left a rough residue and what looked like "watermark" stains to be cleaned. I then scrubbed the frame with a brillo pad to smooth the roughness. The result was very smooth. There are one or two small gouges that I have smoothed the rough edges on, but this is as far as I will go as I don't want to reduce the tube thickness.

I have started to use Mother's cream to polish the frame, but some of the "watermark" stains haven't come off.

Do I just persevere and keep re-polishing until it comes off, or will it not come off?

One this is done how many coats of lacquer will the frame need and do the new decals go on top of the lacquer or underneath? The only time I had this done, Ribble had the frame cleaned to the steel, re-painted and varnished. They also put on the new decals.

Cheers Trevor

By rights.....

Lacquer over everything for that tough finish. But, with bare aluminium, lacquer will take and 3 coats will look nice. The issue is that it won't last. The lacquer will scratch fairly easily and maybe go frosty/milky here and there, in the long term.

From my experience, i would clean all over with white spirit and fit decals, no lacquer. This way you can re-polish as and when needed, just be careful around the decals.

The way factories got away with it was by clear anodising. this is alot more durable than lacquer. Lacquer is far better applied over paint.

cheers.