Orange P7 - Nickel - restoration project

First thing to say is Hi to everyone here at this excellent website. I have to confess that I haven't ridden for a few years due to various reasons and consequently have put on a few pounds . So I thought that it was about time to get back in the saddle. Unfortunately I sold the bike that I built for myself and have regretted it ever since. Anyway I looked around locally and saw a nickel plated orange P7 on a popluar auction site . It was advertised as a restoration project which was perfect. I contacted the seller to go and view the bike and he needed the space and was happy to let me take it there and then. There was a single bidder so apologies if that was anyone on here. I wasn't familiar with the P7 so I googled for some info and this was how I found retrobike and all the fabulous P7's amongst other old school machines that have been restored to their former glory. So here I am the proud owner of my own project. It was pretty dirty as it had been laid up and uncared for for a few years. Forgot to take the before pics :roll: . I have given it a preliminary clean up without removing any components apart from rremoving the crud catcher and bottle cage. Here are some photo's .








Ideally I would like to return to rigid forks preferably the original orange ones. Does anyone out there have any for sale ???

Also went out the the shed and dug out my parts bin and found some old XTR M900 bits which I might put in to service .

The wheels are a Mavic 221's with a hope front hub and an unkown shimano rear hub. All it has on it are the words 'silent clutch' anyone have any clue what it might be?? Could do with a new saddle too if anyone has a NOS orange saddle knocking around that would be great

Anyway getting writers cramp so i'll stop going on. Keep you posted as things progress.

Cheers.
Dave.

P.S.

Any orange guru's out there who can tell me what year my P7 is ? Or how I can tell? The serial number is prefixed with A6 could this be 1996?

Also curious if anyone knows anythinf about the rollamajig thingy as it doesn't like the Avid ones. Could it be one of the original shimano attempts that IIRC got banned for breach of patent or something like that. :?

Thanks.
Dave.

First off, very nice bike, and welcome

Second, the first three numbers of the serial number give you the age, so, for example: 605 would be May (05) 1996 (6).

Finally, the cable roller looks identical to one I had on a GT way back when. I think it was made by Crud, but I might be imagining things.

cable thing is a cog hog or generic copy

shimano silent clutch hub was an LX level part.

nice looking bike.

Crud catcher bosses and front orientated seatpost clamp support the 96' dating. Looks a little cleaner that the 94 I've just started on hopefully your bb won't be jammed in the frame like mine!

Have you tried riding it as is? Just curious as to how is feels as those forks look far too high for it to me!

D_XZ":1yemfvbq said:

Have you tried riding it as is? Just curious as to how is feels as those forks look far too high for it to me!

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It does look a little tall, but the flat back tyre probably doesn't help.

I'd pump that up before it's ridden, oh and fit the rear wheel properly too.

nice looking bike, looking forward to seeing it cleaned up. Was your first bike a gary fisher per chance?

Great looking project , lookes pretty well spec'd as it is but if you fit the XTR bit's you'll be able to sell the XT stuff on here no problem (look's like M739), the original Orange forks shouldn't be too hard to find, a set of F7's or a nice pair of Orange alloy forks would be great (being discussed in the C16 thread), again those old Bombers are great forks, someone will be happy to take those off you, keep us updated on the progress

Excellent choice of ride

I have a 97 P7 that came with decals like that,

and the frame number starts A607, bought new in aug 1997 does this mean it was made in 1996??

(I also have a 95 P7, and a 2000 model I actually think is a 97/9

clockworkgaz":3nv5uian said:

nice looking bike, looking forward to seeing it cleaned up. Was your first bike a gary fisher per chance?

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actually no it wasn't Gaz. I was going to ask why you thought that but then I spotted you sig strip

My bike was one I built myself, the frame was an unbranded polished aluminium which was allegedly an unbadged Kona or possibly a trek, the retailer told me that he bought them direct from the factory that made the frames for big brands but you never know with these things. I bought it purely on it's merits it was a lovely frame. It was a hardtail with fat tubes and snake stays. Manitous up front. It was kitted out with full XTR but I forget which model. ITM, Azonic risers Mavic ceramic rims and Magura rim brakes. It was a lovely bike. I can't believe that i actually don't have any photo's of it. Never thought about it at the time :roll: .

cherrybomb":3nv5uian said:

It does look a little tall, but the flat back tyre probably doesn't help.

I'd pump that up before it's ridden, oh and fit the rear wheel properly too.

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Thanks for the tips mate . The wheel are in need of a rebuild. The front has about 7-10mm of buckle in it. I just bought a pair of Mavic XC717's on XTR hubs of off fleabay so they are going on when they arrive.

jimihendrix":3nv5uian said:

Great looking project , lookes pretty well spec'd as it is but if you fit the XTR bit's you'll be able to sell the XT stuff on here no problem (look's like M739), the original Orange forks shouldn't be too hard to find, a set of F7's or a nice pair of Orange alloy forks would be great (being discussed in the C16 thread), again those old Bombers are great forks, someone will be happy to take those off you, keep us updated on the progress

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Thanks Jimi Not sure exactly what bit's to use at the moment. Quite like the XT stuff actually. Would the original orange spec have been a full XT group? The front mech is STX as is the chainset. I like the XT brakes they are a nice design. I wanted to bid on the NOS Deore XT chainset on ebay today but forgot and missed the auction :roll: Never mind i'll find something nice.

Anyway thanks for all the positive comments. i'll keep you posted.


Dave.