The frame i will soon be receiving is a 21.5 inch Orange P7. It is believed to be between 1993-95. It’s quite hard to tell exactly how old it is as the frame essentially didn’t change in design for quite a few years. It has been resprayed and had frame decals added that are actually a newer style than the original frame to confuse matters further.
The tubing is custom butted CroMo Steel. Steel frames are heavier than aluminium but steel allows natural flex, an attribute which makes steel the choice of material for this kind of bike. I will be leaving the front end of the bike rigid so it’s important that the ride is not to stiff.
The bike frame is quite large but I’m nearly 6ft 2 and the higher top tube actually won’t make any difference to me on the road as i won’t need the leg clearance.
The steerer tube is 1inch in diameter, this leaves my choice for switching the rigid forks to something else quite limited. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to run a V brake on the front as disc mounts also didn’t exist for rigid forks back then. I could go to the length of getting custom parts made but it really isn’t worth it. The fork steerer is threadless which means with a 1-1 1/8 inch shim i can run pretty much any stem and bars I like.
I have been told that the seat post also has a shim in it and that is wedged in. The shim takes the seat tube diameter to 27mm. I will need to get this shim taken out when getting the frame sprayed. I should look to get a shim to take the seat tube diameter to 27.2mm as my choice of seatposts increase dramatically.
