The A-Pro factory is huge and they have to schedule batches of frames so as to keep the production lines busy all the year round. If they have an order from Orange to build xx number of frames by say June, for the following year's models, they're not going to build them all in June. Especially as every other brand they build for has exactly the same schedule. Also the frames have to travel half way round the planet on a boat before they get to Halifax to be assembled (and maybe painted too, I have an idea that Oranges were sometimes painted in the UK).Dossa":3s5nkttk said:Great looking frame - I'd love a nickel P7 as my 2012 project...
But if it was a March made frame (my Prestige was March '92 and is certainly a 1992 model as the Stif ads confirm) then it should have been in the shops by the summer of '96.
I would say a March 96 serial number is consistent with either 96 or 97 model year, and in this case I think the lack of a canti guide suggests 97.
