Orange Prestige refresh

[FluffyChicken]

yep, if that's the condition above. The black finish is tidy, just the decals need a refresh.

 

[Tsundere]

OK, so i finally got her running, I had to go with a stronglight to replace the middle chainring, not exactly period correct but the bike is now in use which was why I bought it, anyway the decals were annoying me, the bike rode beautifully and looked so nice except for the tatty peeling stickers, so I thought to hell with authentic, let's just give her a makeover.

Once I peeled the decals off I cleaned the frame thoroughly, touched up the few marks and scrapes with some black satin paint and applied the new decals, I don't care if I just wiped some of the value off, to me it looks great and I am very pleased with the results.

I also switched out the stem for a shorter slammed Nitto one, gives me a more aggressive posture and increases the fun factor.

Before...


After...

 

[Magpiegifts]

Brilliant job, good on you.it looks much better now and im glad you didn't spray the frame seeing there was nothing wrong with the original paint really. The touch ups look good to.
I want a Prestige one day

 

[DrGooGoo]

Decals look great!
Stem looks scary ;(

 

[Tsundere]

This was the third stem I tried, obviously the original that you see in the earlier pics, and that was OK but it stretched my arms a bit too far forward, even with saddle adjustment I just couldn't quite find a comfortable riding position, the other one I tried lasted about 2 minutes, that was another Nitto and although it was better it still felt wrong, especially with steering at low speeds.

This one feels right for me, it may be because I have mainly ridden with shorter lower stems and drop bars over the past couple of decades, the steering feels just right and it's much more comfortable, I like it when the handlebars align perfectly with my eyes and the front axle when I'm seated, that seems to signify some kind of positional sweet spot for me and this is the only stem that does that.

I ride this bike fairly aggressively on sunny day commutes, it's mainly tarmac and gravel paths so although there's some slightly bumpy and loose sections there's no proper off roading involved, for me this bikes set up is ideal for that particular high speed run. previously I was using a DB Ascent with slicks, still do when it's wet, but the prestige is easily destroying that bike in terms of speed and fun factor, and I say that as someone who absolutely loves riding that old DB.

 

[DrGooGoo]

Just the seat vs handlebar height looks scary to me.
I've crashed over the bars too many times.
I guess if you ride road bikes you're used to it.

 

[jimo746]

Is the stem a road bike stem? Whatever, early 90’s race bikes were all “head down, arse up” anyway, so I guess you could say the riding position is period correct at least.
Decals look good from here, and good job on saving the paintwork, black and looks great

 

[Tsundere]

Is the stem a road bike stem? Whatever, early 90’s race bikes were all “head down, arse up” anyway, so I guess you could say the riding position is period correct at least.
Decals look good from here, and good job on saving the paintwork, black and looks great

Cheers for the kind words, I agree that keeping the original paint was the best option. as for the stem I'm not sure if it's specifically a road bike stem, it could be, I found it on ebay a few weeks ago for pennies and grabbed it on the off chance it would suit the role and luckily it does.