I'm embarking on a refurbishment and rebuild of my 30-year old Orbit America. I bought it in 1990 as a student, heavily discounted in a sale from Harry Hall Cycles in Manchester having had two previous bikes nicked in under two years (my first love, a Mercian I built up, and then an F.W. Evans).
I've just had the frameset refurbished by Bob Jackson Cycles in Leeds. They've done a superb job (photos attached), including gorgeous paintwork (flamboyant burgundy with gold lug lining - inspiration from Mike Muz's thread), new decals (from H Lloyd), realigned the rear triangle and tidied up some duff brazing (both defects from new, hence original discounted price), re-spaced the rear dropouts to 130 mm to accept modern hubs, drilled out corroded rear dropout screws and supplied all new s/s screws and bolts. [Thank you Donald and colleagues for a quality refurbishment. You're skills will be missed, but enjoy your impending retirement!]
The bronze colour in the new head tube and seat tube decals go nicely with the Reynolds decals and gold lug lining, whilst the font of the Orbit name matches the font on the downtube. I think it's an improvement on the original 1989-90 decals. I'll post separately a photo of the frameset before it was refurbished so you can tell me if you disagree with the change of decals!
I've just had the frameset refurbished by Bob Jackson Cycles in Leeds. They've done a superb job (photos attached), including gorgeous paintwork (flamboyant burgundy with gold lug lining - inspiration from Mike Muz's thread), new decals (from H Lloyd), realigned the rear triangle and tidied up some duff brazing (both defects from new, hence original discounted price), re-spaced the rear dropouts to 130 mm to accept modern hubs, drilled out corroded rear dropout screws and supplied all new s/s screws and bolts. [Thank you Donald and colleagues for a quality refurbishment. You're skills will be missed, but enjoy your impending retirement!]
The bronze colour in the new head tube and seat tube decals go nicely with the Reynolds decals and gold lug lining, whilst the font of the Orbit name matches the font on the downtube. I think it's an improvement on the original 1989-90 decals. I'll post separately a photo of the frameset before it was refurbished so you can tell me if you disagree with the change of decals!