Orbit 531 1990

[retrobikeguy]

So we're going with Deore LX, Just one step down from DX and this was the replacement for Mountain LX which was a 1 year only groupset the year previous, for those that havent used Mountain LX before ..... It was mint, I have 3 bikes with it on and the shifter lever combos are great, 4 finger rubberised brake levers with an XT shift feel to the shifters ..... I digress, 1990 introduced the shimano total integration systems rapid fire shifters, this was the thing shimano decided was better than thumbshifters ....... were they right? .......well? anyhow we had to accept "progress" and we moved on even though they still used biopace for the same year which just happens to be the chainings for this build, to be fair I don't mind them and I have done a fair few touring miles around Yorkshire on biopace and they do well once you get speed up.

Looking forward to the build

 

[mk one]

cant go wrong with that colour. Didnt you get the stem painted to match? or are you going just with black stem etc?

 

[retrobikeguy]

Toyed with getting a colour matched stem but couldn't find a nice one.... Then last week a chromed Tioga t-bone popped up in the classifieds to match some bars I have.

 

[raidan73]

Sadly the matching chrome Tioga posts are very hard to come by. I'd love one to match my bar and stem. I had one a few years ago but sadly it had pinholes of rust in it.
That Deore LX groupset always worked flawlessly I found.

 

[retrobikeguy]

Sadly the matching chrome Tioga posts are very hard to come by. I'd love one to match my bar and stem. I had one a few years ago but sadly it had pinholes of rust in it.

Agreed fella, they seem to turn up in stupid sizes like 30.2mm ?!? nothing close to a 27.0mm, I will most likely be settling for a kalloy unit

 

[retrobikeguy]

Yesterday was a beautiful day, although my afternoon would be used up in beer gardens I decided to crack on with getting the frameset covered in that deore LX I was talking about, as I thought it went on easily and looks the part too, thanks to tootyred for the stem..... What a pain to get the cable through but I sorted it out by threading some of that clear brake outer sheath stuff first, wish I'd thought of that 2 hours ago.
Rode it to work this morning to see how well I had rushed it together, gears were perfect but the brakes needed some fettling..... I had some new pads fo fit anyway so into the stand after work and brakes setup....ready for a sunny ride home

 

[MR OX]

Cracking build, I've always regretted selling the Andy Thompson America Orbit road bike I saved, it road so well however i only noticed that when I took it on a long ride to meet the new owner!

 

[otherself]

Lovely build but I would've added a touch of colour.

Also have you weighed it?

 

[retrobikeguy]

Lovely build but I would've added a touch of colour.

Also have you weighed it?

I have plenty of bikes with colour, this was going bright pink at first..... After seeing some examples on the interweb I really liked the grey and I don't have a nice grey bike so... Orbit grey it was.

I have weighed it just for you

Now luggage scales are the best I had so roughly 12.5 kg

 

[raidan73]

That's gone together very nicely Lee. Love it mate