Reader’s Ride: Adam R’s Orange P7

An oldie but a goodie for this week’s RR. Have a nosey at this Orange Pie 7.

Your Name

Adam Rowlinson

Bike

Orange P7

Fork

Exotic rigid carbon

Shock

Suspension? I laugh in the face of suspension!

Suspension Setup

The suspension is dependent on the volume of pies I’ve recently eaten

Wheels

WTB STi30

Tyres

Numark Speedster

Brakes

Shimano XT

Drivetrain

A mix ox Shimano Deore, SLX and XT

Cockpit components

Funn Funduro Stem and Ritchey WCS carbon Bars

Seatpost

Ritchey WCS carbon

Saddle

Madison Flux

Size and Weight

It’s a medium frame and is pretty light for a steel hardtail

Additional Comments

I’ve had the bike 15 years and in that time it’s been ridden all over the East Lancs hills (where I live), The Lakes, Peaks, Wales, Scotland and Devon and Cornwall. It’s had some hammer and was showing it, looking decidedly sorry for itself.

The drivetrain was hanging off, forks leaking oil, tatty paintwork and just generally tired and shabby. Subsequent 2-wheeled purchases meant It’d had been semi-retired onto commuter/pub bike duties, but I decided I’d repurpose it as a gravel/bridleway bashing bike.

So then I did the typical bloke thing (we’ve all been there) and got completely carried away. It became ‘a project’ after a mate (hi Rob!) said “you’d get a pair of 27.5” wheels in that frame. You could too, so a pair was duly purchased. Then the leaky Magura forks came off, to be replaced by Exotic rigid carbons. A new, more modern drivetrain was next, and while it was going on a diet some nice Ritchey carbon bars and a carbon seatpost to replace the saggy dropper.

Seeing as I’d got all that lot, and a few other bits (saddle, grips etc), the next step was to sort the tatty paintwork out so off it went to be acid dipped and powder coated and some custom graphics ordered, complete with the now obligatory Greggs stickers.

I’ve always loved this frame, so it seemed worth this slightly OTT rebuild. I’ve just finished building it and I love how it looks. It rides as well as it looks too. I can see this getting used more than my ‘proper’ bikes. I’m looking forward to putting some miles in on it this summer.

Why this bike?

It was 15 years ago and I’d just finished Hit the North, competing for the award for the most over-biked person there, on an Intense 5.5. I needed something simpler and lighter, namely a steel hardtail. An Orange P7 fitted the bill and this was the very last of the 26″ers that was just listed, having never been ridden, on the Singletrack classifieds. A trip up to North Yorkshire later and our long relationship began

This bike is known as Trigger’s Broom, it’s been through coutless guises over the years and the only original part left on the frame is the seatclamp. I bought a nice Hope one for it, but I’m keeping the original Orange one on, just for posterity.

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