My Orange E3 (?)

[Gaz138]

Hi all,

Firstly, apologies if this is in the wrong thread as I am unsure on the year of my bike. Any help on locating the serial number or identifying the year would me much appreciated.

My dad bought me this bike from a friend at his work approximately 18 years ago. I used it terrorise the local villagers on it until I passed my driving test. The bike has sat in my dads garage for most of the last 15 years until now.

I wanted to start restoring the bike, not to sell but to keep for nostalgia and to use on occasion.

I'd like to start by replacing the blue parts...

Any help or advise on what parts I should be looking for that are close to period would be great.

I will do as much as I can myself with my limited skills and knowledge but I do have a good local repair / restorer who I'm happy to get involved when needed.

I'm definitely looking to replace all the blue parts as a start! I'm currently looking at either Orange Hotrod or Supercross+ bars.

Thank you for looking and thank you in advance for any help or advice given and I look forward to starting with this project!
Gaz

 

[dablk]

Hi Gaz,
Looking at the archive.. which you can find on here. It has a rear canti guide so guess would be it’s a 95/96 as the 97 went to V’s
98 was an E4.

I’m not an orange expert but think back then you could spec any level of shimano you wanted.

I personally like m737 XT which is very neat canti group without being XTR costs.

Good luck

 

[Gaz138]

Oh it's older than I had thought! I'll repost in the pre 97 section.

Thank you for your help and I'll look into the M737 XT!

 

[dablk]

Mod should be able to
Move it save you having two threads

 

[Gaz138]

Mod should be able to
Move it save you having two threads

Even better!

 

[Carge]

Good choice of forks.
Seatpost looks like it might be the original one.
Bars and stem are the most obvious swaps.
XT would suit it - rear wheel looks to have a newer hub and I'd take a look at the front hub, as it's radially laced, so check it for cracks.

Nice little project

 

[Gaz138]

Good choice of forks.
Seatpost looks like it might be the original one.
Bars and stem are the most obvious swaps.
XT would suit it - rear wheel looks to have a newer hub and I'd take a look at the front hub, as it's radially laced, so check it for cracks.

Nice little project

Thanks for your help! In that's case I'll keep the seat post. Should I look for / am I likely to find a period Orange stem or should I look elsewhere? XT seems like the way forward for me. I'll have a look at the front hub, I wouldn't be surprised if it was cracked.