Orange Elite Makeover

I've allways liked the block lettering of the orange logo's.
So i decided on placing them on my current elite project.

<frankie howard on> A right juicy pair <howard off>

What are your build plans?

There's an Elite appreciation thread and check out BoyOBoys for a pinnacle build

and Hawki also has a one owner 17" too

And

I allready have rc30 forks for the elite. My heart says xc pro cantis/chainset /f+r mech build, but this will take time and money, so i may opt for xt.
I've promised my youngest daughter the P7, so i will be on the lookout for ritchey parts for this one.

I have near complete xc pro on the elite - they didn't make an evo headset and i use an xc comp RD. XC cantis are £29 a set at sjs cycles still NOS! BB's can be ridiculously cheap or ridiculously expensive. XC Pro Rd's...

I have a full XC pro groupset for my Muddy Fox Alu Team Pro which has taken about 3 years to acquire :shock:

If you go for xc comp you'll get a groupset for about 1/2 the price of 732 and dare I say it 99% as good

An xc comp rd went for £11 the other day near mint, a set of cranks 15-20 for example - look at the weights - it's basically xc pro without the GG ports.

You going ahead or quill on the elite and 1"1/4 or using a reducer?

I'll will try to drip feed it with xc pro as time goes by, so initially it will have xt/xtr which then can be used on my other bikes.

I have an ali stalk quill without decals at the mo, but its in good condition. Not sure about bars yet.

Would love to get my hands on an Orange ti saddle though.

Is the Elite an early Orange model? It hasn't got the wishbone seatstays, like the P7 pictured. My old "nicked" Clockwork and my current E3 and P7 all had/have wishbones. Any idea when they were introduced, as Orange don't know anything about their pre 1993/1994 bikes. The Orange site also says that many of the production runs had updates at intervals when a decent idea came about. So you could have had 2 P7's built on consecutive days with marked differences.

the elite never had the wishbone rear end, basically it was an improved aluminium O, my 2 'O' bikes both had 1 1/4 headsets, 27.2 seatpost sizes, also, it had power stays for the chainstays and seat stays also it had a chainstay bridge, the elite however has power stay chainstays but with no bridge and has round seatstays, having owned and ridden both models the elite rides so much better than the 'O', i think mainly because of the lack of power stay seatstays and the lack of the chainstay bridge, it gives the elite frame a bit more 'give' that the 'O' simply doesn't, it was so harsh to ride!

if memory serves the 'O' was available from 91 and the elite was from 92 although they ran along side for a couple of years after, it is however true about the small batches and difference on the same year model, usually it was differences in things like the cable guides, i have seen 3 different types on aluminium O's

both your elite and p7 look fantastic though, i look forward to seeing them built.

FYI, i have the limited edition ano gold elite, built with xt and 1st gen rc30's, also have a 95 nickel p7 with full m737 xt that is almost all catalogue spec.

Elites only came with twin seat stays - 92,93/94 years only

The catalogues are in the gallery too

Archemist":1e46zrj8 said:

Elites only came with twin seat stays - 92,93/94 years only

The catalogues are in the gallery too

Click to expand...

The Orange website has a list of bikes they have manufactured and quotes the following about the earliest Elite and P7 produced;

Model-Year-Seat Tube-Seat Post-Seat Post Clamp-Front Mech-BB Shell-Max Disc Rotor- Comment

Clockwork-93-94-26.8-26.8-28.6-28.6-68-n/a
E3-95/98-30-27.2+shim-34.9-34.9-68-n/a

What size seat post/front mech or bottom bracket will fit my bike?

We are often asked what size front mech, seat post or bottom bracket fits a particular model and this can be one of the hardest questions to give an answer to. Because we introduced running changes to each bike, knowing the year of manufacture does not help to clearly identify which variation of the model you may have. Some seatposts were shimmed to fit seat tubes, bottom bracket length is determined by the chainset you use (sorry but we don’t check this with every chainset available) and front mech’s could be top pull, bottom pull or even plate style.

We do not have records of frame numbers for older bikes so this cannot be used to accurately identify a model.

What we have tried to do is give an idea of what was produced over the years, please use this guide, measure the component you are replacing and try and get one with identical dimensions. Always check with your dealer that the part you are purchasing will fit, if in doubt let them do it."

I noticed that the Vit T isn't there either, so there's a number of early bikes that Orange seem to have no information about. It may be worth canvassing the RB members to see if we can fill in the gaps...

Given the fact that Orange do not have any records pre 97/98 regarding serial numbers design changes etc. We as in "Retrobikers" could build a database filling in the blanks. eg.:
Model: P7
Serial no : A51101234
Frame size: 19"
Owner: (username)
previous owner: (username)
Any design change : y/n
pics:
It may then be possible to see changes to a frame in a certain year or even month!.
The database could be set up to cater for different models.
Individuals could also have bragging rights on having the oldest bike or the bike which had the first design change.
Just a thought what do you think.
It probably would be quite difficult to have it continually updated. Are there any computer wizzkids out there.