brocklanders023":32vgjv69 said:
kafer-k":32vgjv69 said:
What steel Kona would you say was on a par with a Prestige?
None..... They're Kona's :evil: :roll: :roll:
This does touch on one of the many shortcomings in my knowledge. I think 1993 is fairly clear - the Kilauea was made of Tange Prestige Concept and the Explosif was made of Tange Prestige Ultimate, the top level of Tange tubing. The 1993 Prestige was also made of Tange Prestige Ultimate, so I am sure brocklanders would agree that the 93 Prestige and Explosif are on a par in terms of tube quality, even though he prefers the Orange geometry etc.
Prior to 1993, the Explosif was made of Concept, which I don't think Orange ever used. I assume that the 1991 Prestige was made of plain Tange Prestige, still a high quality heat-treated tube, but without the ovalisation of Concept. The brochure does talk about a mix of tubes, but doesn't give details.
The 1992 brochure talks about one tube being Logic (i.e., the Ritchey variant of Tange Prestige), but it doesn't mention Ultimate. However it may be that Orange went over to Ultimate for the Prestige at some point in 1992, as I think the frame pictured below is a 92 with original paint and that is a Tange Prestige Ultimate Superlight sticker that it's sporting. You see that sticker on all 93 frames where it survives, but not on frames earlier than the one pictured.
Just a long-winded way of saying that quality-wise the Prestige was generally broadly on a par with the Explosif.
