bikeworkshop
Old School Grand Master
Clamp looks fine
Jaws are parallel.
Jaws are parallel.
1998 Orange P7 Tourer/ATB
- Thread starter originsoundd
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originsoundd
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Well, here it is, "finished". New stem, front bags and indexed shifter installed. Wheels now straight as arrows too. 
I leave for my ride to Croatia in a couple days, but unfortunately after adding this stem the Brooks saddle became horrible to sit on. I'm using this Charge Spoon for now but I'm going to order a WTB Volt to replace it which will hopefully be okay for the big ride. Not too worried about it being uncomfortable since I'll be in mainland Europe most of the time anyway. I also caved and bought the Orange seatpost clamp since I had to tighten the sh*t out of the chinese 31.8 one so much and the bolt head stripped.
Took it round some trails in Epping Forest the other day (without the racks) and it was so much fun, most fun I've ever had on a bike for sure. I think I want to aquire something with some suspension next!
I leave for my ride to Croatia in a couple days, but unfortunately after adding this stem the Brooks saddle became horrible to sit on. I'm using this Charge Spoon for now but I'm going to order a WTB Volt to replace it which will hopefully be okay for the big ride. Not too worried about it being uncomfortable since I'll be in mainland Europe most of the time anyway. I also caved and bought the Orange seatpost clamp since I had to tighten the sh*t out of the chinese 31.8 one so much and the bolt head stripped.
Took it round some trails in Epping Forest the other day (without the racks) and it was so much fun, most fun I've ever had on a bike for sure. I think I want to aquire something with some suspension next!
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bikeworkshop
Old School Grand Master
Well, here it is, "finished". New stem, front bags and indexed shifter installed. Wheels now straight as arrows too.
I leave for my ride to Croatia in a couple days, but unfortunately after adding this stem the Brooks saddle became horrible to sit on. I'm using this Charge Spoon for now but I'm going to order a WTB Volt to replace it which will hopefully be okay for the big ride. Not too worried about it being uncomfortable since I'll be in mainland Europe most of the time anyway. I also caved and bought the Orange seatpost clamp since I had to tighten the sh*t out of the chinese 31.8 one so much and the bolt head stripped.
Took it round some trails in Epping Forest the other day (without the racks) and it was so much fun, most fun I've ever had on a bike for sure. I think I want to aquire something with some suspension next!
View attachment 968080
That looks fook1n great
And that means you're going to have a great time
bikeworkshop
Old School Grand Master
Rims not too concave?
Pictures aren't clear, but I'm reaching out to check
Pictures aren't clear, but I'm reaching out to check
originsoundd
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Shop that trued my wheels mentioned they were worn but said it was OK. Will get a set of disc wheels at some point.Rims not too concave?
Pictures aren't clear, but I'm reaching out to check
originsoundd
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And I'm back! Had an absolute blast over the 44 days. In total we did 2,668km and ~23,000m of elevation. Unfortunately the P7 didn't hold up so well. I had a lot of problems and probably ended up spending about ~ÂŁ400 on fixing them all! This post will probably sound a bit negative but I did have an amazing time. We did a lot of unpaved roads and trails that really pushed the limits of what rigid, loaded bikes can do.
It started in the Netherlands, where my rear rim formed a big tear on the braking surface. We were in Breda, where 26” bikes were basically extinct. I rode it to a bike shop to buy a rim and took it to get fitted. I forgot that the hubs I have are 32 hole, and was notified by the mechanic at the Trek store (the only shop that wasn't too busy to do the job on the day) that the rim I had got was a mismatch. The tech didn’t realise the spoke hole mismatch only until after he’d taken the old wheel apart, so now I HAD to get a 32 hole rim from somewhere to keep me going. Me and my friend parted ways and eventually were both funnelled to a used shop, where they had lots of nice 26” rims for very nice prices. Amazingly only one of them was 32h. It was a Rigida Grizzly touring rim with a coarse ceramic (CSS) braking surface. This is all they had so I took it. I didn’t realise this rim required specific pads and the shop staff didn’t mention it to me at all. I got it for €15.
I took the wheel back to the shop and after an hour of waiting I received my bike back. A short ride to the town center later and what was left of my rear brake pads was completely gone. I didn’t really realise and just swapped my pads to some fresh ones. 15 min later they were completely gone too… The tech in the Trek store didn’t mention the need for pads at all either. I thought ceramic pads would work, and a day or so later I ordered them and my girlfriend would bring them to me when she came to visit the next weekend in Stuttgart. I rode about 450km that week with only a front brake, luckily it wasn't too hilly but I did have some hairy moments. It was quite the spectacle, flying down a hill in a cloud of red brake dust! During that week I also dealt with a slipping seatpost, and a slew of punctures. There was also an incident with a stick and the piece of cable that runs down to the rear derailleur. I’d stupidly routed the cable behind my rear rack, rather than in front of it, and a stick had snagged the cable and pushed it into my cassette, making it get caught between my chain and one of the cogs, bending the cable quite badly which made my shifting sluggish. At this point I also got really scared of the same thing happening to my front wheel as it was as equally worn as my rear, so I bought a replacement for about £30. Was an easy swap and also got to keep my XTR front hub.
We landed in Stuttgart for the weekend and I took my bike to the shop in the morning of the day we were meant to leave. I needed the cable replaced and the rear wheel trued. They told me to come back at 6:45pm if I didn’t get a text in the next 2 hours. I didn’t receive the text and of course forgot to go back before they closed. We were both so tired and it was the middle of a heatwave, 31-34C every day, so we booked the same hotel for another night and got ready to get the bike tomorrow morning. Just as we were heading out the door, i put in the bike shop on my friends phone for him to cycle there, and saw it was closed on Tuesdays…. Anyways, one more day in a hotel in Stuttgart later and I got my bike back. They fixed the rear deraileur cable but told me that my rear wheel was true and it was the tire that was untrue? This is also when I discovered that the "regular" ceramic pads my girlfriend had bought me were no use either. I read the Rigida product page, properly this time, and realised I needed specific Swissstop CSS pads. £25 a pair! With shipping and customs it ended up being £91 to ship 2 pairs of brake pads from the UK to Austria.
A bunch of scary downhill gravel descents later, I got the pads and I finally had brakes!
After all this faff it was pretty smooth sailing. My lower jockey wheel cracked and I managed to find a replacement in Austria. My saddle was also slipping backwards in the clamp but after stopping 6 times and trying carbon gripper paste, electrical tape, and tightening the shit out of it I gave up and just endured the pain. To top it all off, my chain snapped just after we arrived to our final hotel.
Attached some bike-oriented photos below. Something I learnt from this whole experience is that 26" parts are rare in Europe. My friends Giant Toughroad had a total of two problems the whole time. One puncture and a broken front pannier rack. Definetly made me jealous, and slightly regret building the unicorn that I did. As for future plans for the P7, I'm not really too sure. I think I want to go disc brake and suspension fork and take it proper mountain biking. There isn't much around London though! It needs a fair amount of TLC.
It started in the Netherlands, where my rear rim formed a big tear on the braking surface. We were in Breda, where 26” bikes were basically extinct. I rode it to a bike shop to buy a rim and took it to get fitted. I forgot that the hubs I have are 32 hole, and was notified by the mechanic at the Trek store (the only shop that wasn't too busy to do the job on the day) that the rim I had got was a mismatch. The tech didn’t realise the spoke hole mismatch only until after he’d taken the old wheel apart, so now I HAD to get a 32 hole rim from somewhere to keep me going. Me and my friend parted ways and eventually were both funnelled to a used shop, where they had lots of nice 26” rims for very nice prices. Amazingly only one of them was 32h. It was a Rigida Grizzly touring rim with a coarse ceramic (CSS) braking surface. This is all they had so I took it. I didn’t realise this rim required specific pads and the shop staff didn’t mention it to me at all. I got it for €15.
I took the wheel back to the shop and after an hour of waiting I received my bike back. A short ride to the town center later and what was left of my rear brake pads was completely gone. I didn’t really realise and just swapped my pads to some fresh ones. 15 min later they were completely gone too… The tech in the Trek store didn’t mention the need for pads at all either. I thought ceramic pads would work, and a day or so later I ordered them and my girlfriend would bring them to me when she came to visit the next weekend in Stuttgart. I rode about 450km that week with only a front brake, luckily it wasn't too hilly but I did have some hairy moments. It was quite the spectacle, flying down a hill in a cloud of red brake dust! During that week I also dealt with a slipping seatpost, and a slew of punctures. There was also an incident with a stick and the piece of cable that runs down to the rear derailleur. I’d stupidly routed the cable behind my rear rack, rather than in front of it, and a stick had snagged the cable and pushed it into my cassette, making it get caught between my chain and one of the cogs, bending the cable quite badly which made my shifting sluggish. At this point I also got really scared of the same thing happening to my front wheel as it was as equally worn as my rear, so I bought a replacement for about £30. Was an easy swap and also got to keep my XTR front hub.
We landed in Stuttgart for the weekend and I took my bike to the shop in the morning of the day we were meant to leave. I needed the cable replaced and the rear wheel trued. They told me to come back at 6:45pm if I didn’t get a text in the next 2 hours. I didn’t receive the text and of course forgot to go back before they closed. We were both so tired and it was the middle of a heatwave, 31-34C every day, so we booked the same hotel for another night and got ready to get the bike tomorrow morning. Just as we were heading out the door, i put in the bike shop on my friends phone for him to cycle there, and saw it was closed on Tuesdays…. Anyways, one more day in a hotel in Stuttgart later and I got my bike back. They fixed the rear deraileur cable but told me that my rear wheel was true and it was the tire that was untrue? This is also when I discovered that the "regular" ceramic pads my girlfriend had bought me were no use either. I read the Rigida product page, properly this time, and realised I needed specific Swissstop CSS pads. £25 a pair! With shipping and customs it ended up being £91 to ship 2 pairs of brake pads from the UK to Austria.
A bunch of scary downhill gravel descents later, I got the pads and I finally had brakes!After all this faff it was pretty smooth sailing. My lower jockey wheel cracked and I managed to find a replacement in Austria. My saddle was also slipping backwards in the clamp but after stopping 6 times and trying carbon gripper paste, electrical tape, and tightening the shit out of it I gave up and just endured the pain. To top it all off, my chain snapped just after we arrived to our final hotel.
Attached some bike-oriented photos below. Something I learnt from this whole experience is that 26" parts are rare in Europe. My friends Giant Toughroad had a total of two problems the whole time. One puncture and a broken front pannier rack. Definetly made me jealous, and slightly regret building the unicorn that I did. As for future plans for the P7, I'm not really too sure. I think I want to go disc brake and suspension fork and take it proper mountain biking. There isn't much around London though! It needs a fair amount of TLC.
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pwebb
Senior Retro Guru
sounds like your trip was a lot of fun and an adventure at times too - this is what it is all about and it may have been less challenging had you taken a boring but reliable bike. Reading your travelogue made me smile as I can remember taking a heavily laden 1980s MTB on a touring /camping trip of Belgium, Luxembourg and France and having some similar failures - like going up a long hill and hearing a bang from the rear then big crunch and grind to a halt - looking down I saw ball bearings running down the road where my rear axle had snapped and the hub emptied its bearings onto the tarmac. I had lots of spares and tools, but no spare axle. A car stopped and asked if I needed any help - I explained what had gone wrong and they told me it was a national holiday and most places were shut in the towns they had passed and there were also no campsite nearby. I set off walking and pushing the broken bike slowly - when the car cam back 5 minutes later and the driver shouted to me that there was a bike shop in the next village ! I got there a while later and it was closed however I knocked and knocked on the door and windows until someone appeared I explained I need an axle but could repair it myself ( I had gathered up the ball bearings and pout them in my pocket) I then rummaged around in the bike shop owners box of spare bits but all the axles were much shorter than the MTB solid axle I had (Takagi XT hubs back in the day) The shop owner eventually found a tandem axle he had kept and it was just long enough to work so I rebuilt the hub at the side of the road and got going again - amazingly that lasted for a few thousand km before it broke, I replaced with hollow QR axles eventually and never had a breakage again - I learned some science at the same time ! I would say that on that touring trip and also on a later trip through Eastern Europe ( when it was behind the iron curtain) in the early 90s ( Poland , Czechoslovakia, Hungary) taught me to go with the flow and take every day as it comes and not worry too much when events forced a different plan and changed itinerary - some of the best cycle touring experiences I have had came about quite by chance due to unexpected problems and set backs ! Thanks for recounting your adventures - I hope you are inspired to do many more and enjoy the freedom and great empathy/kindness you can get from fellow travelers and from people you meet by chance, that just doesn't happen with any other form of transport imho.
I explained I need an axle but could repair it myself ( I had gathered up the ball bearings and pout them in my pocket) I then rummaged around in the bike shop owners box of spare bits but all the axles were much shorter than the MTB solid axle I had (Takagi XT hubs back in the day) The shop owner eventually found a tandem axle he had kept and it was just long enough to work so I rebuilt the hub at the side of the road and got going again - amazingly that lasted for a few thousand km before it broke, I replaced with hollow QR axles eventually and never had a breakage again - I learned some science at the same time ! I would say that on that touring trip and also on a later trip through Eastern Europe ( when it was behind the iron curtain) in the early 90s ( Poland , Czechoslovakia, Hungary) taught me to go with the flow and take every day as it comes and not worry too much when events forced a different plan and changed itinerary - some of the best cycle touring experiences I have had came about quite by chance due to unexpected problems and set backs ! Thanks for recounting your adventures - I hope you are inspired to do many more and enjoy the freedom and great empathy/kindness you can get from fellow travelers and from people you meet by chance, that just doesn't happen with any other form of transport imho.
