Orange X1 Pro Refit - constructive advice welcome

[Teige]

Came across a ‘97 Orange X1 Pro couple months back, decent order but needed a clean up. Ok little project. Burned off the stickers, removed adhesive & other sh**e, cleaned the mechanics, swapped out old brakes & grip shifters for integrated Shimano rapid-fire ones, tuned it up, nice new tyres, even found a dude to do the decals too. (Ignore the grips, they were cheap. I’ve already been royally ridiculed over them by proper MTB friends)

It feels pretty sweet to ride & I’ve been tear-arsing all over the shop on it, the shox worked but there was no discernible control for the front, top caps did zero. Can switch compression damping on the Xfusion, w. blue bar, but that’s the only control I could see that I had on either device. Should also explain BTW, I have zero experience servicing MTBs or indeed shock absorbers. Last time I rode one was 25yrs ago & they didn’t have shox then - not on the bikes most of us could afford at least.

So the stumbling block has come, unsurprisingly, with the shox: Judy DH up front, Xfusion O2 Pro on the rear (an older iteration of I assume as can’t find any user info for them anywhere). Covid boredom got the better of me & i wanted to find out if I could alter them to suit my own aged frame. Decided to take the Judy’s apart to see what state they were in, only to find..... they’d already been butchered, gutted, & had a couple of slightly-rusty-on-the-ends coil springs stuffed in instead. Apparently that’s something folk used to do with them for various reasons.

The compression cartridge appears to be a White Bros Hardbody 80mm bad boy (apparently they were good back in the day?), instead of the RockShox one. I’ve cleaned it but not got the innards out of the cartridge shaft as it seems pretty stuck & I don’t want to risk damaging it. However if anyone has experience with these & can explain how to do that & refill the cartridge with oil, it’d be appreciated.

I think I’ve pulled a dummy out of the right leg (rebound cartridge) so now it makes sense why neither of the top caps did anything when I turned them. There was only a dribble of oil from that leg. But I’m assuming a lot there, I don’t know the equipment so again if anyone recognises from any images what’s been done to these forks & how to put some life back into them it’d be appreciated. Should the right fork have oil in it .i.e. dump a load in the crown as I’ve seen them do on some forks? I’m not certain I’ve got a working mechanism in there, hence why I think it may be a dummy. Plus there no adjuster thread in the end, it’s just a metal bar with a hole going through. The compression cartridge has the adjuster thread.

I’m keen to piece these forks back together to tide me over as it’s bloody good fun to ride, so I might syringe oil back down the adjuster rod & lube everything up before doing that. I’d rather use it if it’s still relatively ok rather than wait while I decide whether to try & make something out of these Judy’s or just keep them as is til I find suitable replacements (any recommendations? Just in case). Surely there’s a good compromise for repurposing old forks with 3rd-party innards?

I’ll attach some images below of before/after clean up of the frame & some of the shox in case anyone recognises them & can offer any advice to get them running/serviced or even update them in a cost-effective way perhaps. Thanks in advance

 

[ishaw]

Re:

I'm no expert but for what it's worth....


I had a set of judy DJ once, fairly sure there was a cartridge in each leg like the white bros one, one handled compression. The other rebound damping. Both were metal bodied affairs, one red, the other silver. Springs were often used to replace the perishable elastomers, though this was only a good idea in forks with damping or you simply had a pogo stick in a fork.

I've rebuilt many a Judy fork, not worked on a white bros cartridge, but they were a great upgrade and you should be able to service it fully. I'd assume standard o-rings and seals were used so as long as the body and shaft are in good condition, you can measure up or find part numbers to get replacements. White bros are still going I think so maybe drop them a line and see if they can advise?

Rear shock wise, any shock with the correct i2i and travel should work on your frame. You might need different diameter bushing spacers as different brands use different bushing diameters but shouldn't be too challenging to find what you need if you get a different shock. Stratos shocks were often used on these frames if memory serves, and whilst they no longer exist as a company, might be an option to look for, pretty sure companies will service them if you find one, though diy is also possible, shock servicing isn't as hard as you might think.

Not trying to promote or sell you anything, but I have a stratos xc pro shock that might fit your frame, depending on i2i an travel.

 

[Retro Spud]

Stratos was the OEM spec for this bike - of course they come in many sizes and we’re fitted to other brands as well

Don’t see many X1’s getting a bit of TLC - which is a shame

 

[Jussa]

Re:

First of all welcome, and secondly good to see another X1 on the forum. I am not however sure its a Pro? (As a rule of thumb Pro Versions were Blue Frame with Grey Rear End, RS Versions Red Frame with White Rear End, even though all the PRO and RS bit denoted was the groupset!!, Orange have always been a bit unconventional with these bikes lol) I've owned pretty much all X1's from across the range and will put some links up below for you to peruse. Can't help you with the Shock side of things, I tend to run OG Strata on the rear and PACE on the front or Rock Shox. Give it some love and your X1 will provide many years of URT fun.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=243726

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=254207

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=275050

Looking forward to seeing updates.

Jussa

 

[Teige]

Thanks for the feedback all (haven’t figured out how to respond to individual comments..) & didn’t know there were different iterations of this bike. Yeah the Judy DHs have had it. Stuffed it all back together having given them a clean, respray, re-grease & somehow fill the White Bros cartridge with oil. They’re not any worse than they were, better by virtue of having a scrub, but they are essentially shined clean pogo sticks. Got a few leads on a suitable replacements - RS REBA, XC28, MAGURA ODUR M85T. Confident the rear shox are good too. Had it’s 1st outing round some nearby forest during the sunny spell. Feels so much better after a proper clean/lube of the machinery. Decals on the way too! it’s getting there, slowly. I’ve heard baking soda & vinegar does wonders to clean rust from steel too....

 

[ishaw]

Re:

If you want a set of v mount rebas, I've got a set of world cup versions doing nothing as I've upgraded to sid world cups. They started life as disc only but I swapped the lowers over to a set with v mounts.

 

[Teige]

ha ha, what else have you got knocking about in your shed? Sounds promising though, I'll PM you. thanks for the heads up

 

[Teige]

Re: Re:

If you want a set of v mount rebas, I've got a set of world cup versions doing nothing as I've upgraded to sid world cups. They started life as disc only but I swapped the lowers over to a set with v mounts.

I'm not allowed to PM anyone, I'm too new. What shape are those Reba's in? & what would you want for them? Feel free to ping me an email at a-northern-soul@hotmail.co.uk with any info you feel is relevant. Much appreciated

 

[ishaw]

Re:

Here's a link to some pics and info on the fork I posted in another thread.

If you need any more info, let me know:

viewtopic.php?f=46&t=413830&view=unread#unread

 

[Teige]

I've hit a wall, metaphorically. A 1" steerer tube kind of wall. Thought I'd cracked the replacement forks issue,. Schoolboy error, hadn't checked steerer diameter. I need help hive-mind - are 1" steerer forks still available anywhere? I'm struggling to see any even on older shox on eBay. Is it possible to convert, downsize a 1 1/8 tube? Get a downsized steerer/crown combo? Fortunately the ones i bought can go back. Shame though, thought i'd got a sweet deal on some Recon SoloAirs. I'm gonna drag this X1 back to life one way or the other...