The mystery of ICEMANS O. Early Orange Alloy O's!

[yeti_bomb]

Pretty cool stuff. Something different.

 

[Cheshire1980]

Re: Re:

Sweet project mate. Not much help but I have one of those polished aluminium stems pictured with your bar/stem combo. Had always wondered if it was a legit Orange stem so thanks for clearing that up!

Glad I could help in regards to the stem Ed. I remember one came up on eBay about 18 months back, and was unsure whether it was a proper one, but it was. I think that was off a Orange aluminium o, an orange and white fade one.. Think it was off the one on here with the decal on the seat stay the wrong way round..

 

[Cheshire1980]

Pretty cool stuff. Something different.

Thanks.. I enjoy a good mystery..

 

[Cheshire1980]

A910xxx is the first batch (1989 October)
(this is that Retrobike found out and worked out)

and this is one of them

and leads me to viewtopic.php?f=1&t=90591
Two (as mentioned the project bike by boy'o'boy, and is the 3D scan, and andrewl top of page 3 confirming the setup).

so it's one of them OR the proto bike for it given the different style of cable stop...
1991,
now you just need one of the 3rd batch :-D

Really interesting stuff, thanks for posting it up. . Also reading what boy o boy wrote, regarding the stem and bar combo, don't think he ever found one, must be pretty rare, I haven't come across any before. Thought it was hard enough to get a set of Ram Rod bars :facepalm:
Definitely an early one, the bar/stem combo would point to that, plus early decals, as seen in picture of the 91 prototype alloy O from the 1991 Orange brochure.. perhaps a prototype, and perhaps ridden by an ex sponsored rider? Will post up on the facebook when I get chance.. all still up in the air. But thanks for all the info on the different batches, identification, been most helpful and interesting! :xmas-cool:

 

[FluffyChicken]

It is and now I know where to find it again

of course it could be NiCE MANS, RiCE MANS, SPiCE MANS... and this was his delivery bike.

 

[boy"O"boy]

two top are A108 (early 1992)
two bottom are A112 (later 1992 onwards model)

Boy'o'boy was/is our O lover and gathered a lot of the info, just wish I could find a 1st 1991 model as 2md A106 1991 models do seem to be welded guides.
There are loads of 1992 around.

More in the back ground these days! :roll:
This topic made for an interesting read.... especially reading through some of the posts I'd contributed to.
Would be great to know if Iceman's O is a prototype. There are similaries with 1st batch of numbers ( Feb 91 ) but no serial number is going to make it harder.

This may be a 'dead end' line of enquiry, but I ( my dad ) bought my frame, fork and custom stalk combo from Channels in Chelmsford. As a main Orange dealer for the area, maybe they sponsored a rider? They were one of the 1st shops to get the 'O'?

I've still got mine.... it needs another light resto now after getting a fair bit of use in Germany ( maybe I'll get to fit it in with RC100 this year! :roll: ) ...... and Yes, - I never did find a Custom Stalk!.... especially in a 120mm flavour. Great to see the MBUK article on it too, that's what made me spec mine in the 1st place!

Good luck with the search Cheshire.... I'll be watching further developments with keen interest.

cheers.
boy"O"boy

 

[Cheshire1980]

two top are A108 (early 1992)
two bottom are A112 (later 1992 onwards model)

Boy'o'boy was/is our O lover and gathered a lot of the info, just wish I could find a 1st 1991 model as 2md A106 1991 models do seem to be welded guides.
There are loads of 1992 around.

More in the back ground these days! :roll:
This topic made for an interesting read.... especially reading through some of the posts I'd contributed to.
Would be great to know if Iceman's O is a prototype. There are similaries with 1st batch of numbers ( Feb 91 ) but no serial number is going to make it harder.

This may be a 'dead end' line of enquiry, but I ( my dad ) bought my frame, fork and custom stalk combo from Channels in Chelmsford. As a main Orange dealer for the area, maybe they sponsored a rider? They were one of the 1st shops to get the 'O'?

I've still got mine.... it needs another light resto now after getting a fair bit of use in Germany ( maybe I'll get to fit it in with RC100 this year! :roll: ) ...... and Yes, - I never did find a Custom Stalk!.... especially in a 120mm flavour. Great to see the MBUK article on it too, that's what made me spec mine in the 1st place!

Good luck with the search Cheshire.... I'll be watching further developments with keen interest.

cheers.
boy"O"boy

Thanks.. you posted up some great threads on the O. Which inspired me to get one. Remember really wanting one back in the day. Yes I get the feeling it could of been a locally sponsored rider, perhaps a prototype, not sure I will ever find out a great deal more, but will keep trying all the same .. anyway look forward to your Pace build, given the brilliant builds you've done in the past, Elite, Alpinestars ..