Orange Clockwork Prototype

[adyifauk]

Hello, I grew up in Elland (just outside Halifax) and, in the 90's helped a chap who worked for Orange. As a thank you, he gave me a yellow bike and told me it was a prototype. I used the bike about 15 times and, after receiving a job offer - moved to Suffolk in 1999 and left the bike at my mums in Elland. Unfortunately she passed away recently and her house (and garage) needed to be cleared, so I have brought the bike home.

Seeing the bike has made me want to ride again. I have spoken to a local bike shop about servicing the bike, as it is in very good condition, but he's told me I would be far better off selling it and buying a new 'modern' bike.

Does anyone know what this bike is worth? It is in very good condition with all the original parts. I fitted bar ends, a carbon water bottle holder, lights and some mudguards, but all the components are the standard ones that came with the bike when he gave it to me. The tyres (which are knackered!) still have bobbles on them.

I googled to try find the location of a serial number, but it doesnt have any.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

 

[jonnyboy666]

jesus i hate it when people in shops say buy a new bike because yours is just old. the bike looks pretty mint, if you brought that to my shop i'd quote for the service and replacement tyres, i might mention a new bike but only if you made comments about "is it worth it?", and my response is always the same, do you like the bike? is it still comfortable? and this is gonna cost XYZ, if you bought a replacement bike what would you spend? if the repair is say £100 and a new bike is from £400 for something basic but reasonable then i'd advise servicing the old one. if you said well i want suspension upfront and disc brakes then yes buy a new bike but again that means more than £400!

i'd say it looks like a later 90's model, and i'd say pre-production sample from the far east as opposed to prototype, they had loads of frames made by then so it may have been just a new version they wanted a sample of before full production run which is quite normal.

as to value, subjective to be honest, it's still a clockwork and has the base spec of gears, as opposed to a P7 (the next model up), and i just paid £300 for a mint nickel P7, but it's pretty mint and very original so i'd say £200 to £250 and haggle

 

[FluffyChicken]

That rear mech is newer than the bike.

Looks nice, I have no idea of value of these. Can't really see what the components are, but cranks Alovio so assume the rest is Alovio level, so lower end.

But jonnyboy tends to know these well, other might know too.
Maybe the Orange branded part as they are probably in great condition fetch a bit on their own for people building bikes.


Honestly, just go ride it.