pcb 

Dang, I always wanted one of these. I owned for a little while the purple/blue respray frame that's on ebay right now, and though I defend the right of anybody to paint their bikes any damn color they please, I may have held onto that one if the color scheme was "correct." Kinda weird, but Holdsworth Pros weren't a bike I knew about in my yout', with some sleazy part of my brain lusting after one for decades. Not my Raquel Welch, if you will. I first saw one in this century, as a grown-ass man, but the lust was there nonetheless.

Geez, if I'm not careful I'll talk myself into buying back the purple/blue one and having it refinished...

pcb 

Sneaking in on the last possible day. My current oranges are all newer-ish and restomod-ish. Although orange is officially one of my two favorite colors, I haven't had a lot of oranges run through my hands. I like color, but I'll seldom pass up a nice find because of color.

Most current photo is this '95ish Chris Kelly Knobby-X. Orange and Toothpaste Green are his two signature colors, I had a TG one that didn't fit great, sold it off, missed it, found the orange one not long after. True Temper Platinum OX tig'd steel, very light for a 'cross machine. Don't think I've changed anything since this photo session.





This '11 Waterford ST-22 just got reworked a bit, inheriting some stuff from a sold-off bike, and I added a VO Contructeur rear rack. Maybe more pix tonight, before the Oct deadline expires. This is one of the few frames I got new, so I've had it for 10yrs now, and it's morphed a bit over time. First build photo below.





And this is one of my least C&V hosses, an '08 Waterford X-14, and it doesn't get ridden a whole lot. Haven't done much since these pix, but it's due for some work. I want to see how it does with 650b wheels.

rjhammett

Here is a picture from the ad when I bought it. It was rattle canned including the wheels (silver).

pcb 

Separate post for the ones that have found new homes. From oldest to newest.

'90 Fuquay/Serotta Custom race 'cross frame, build by then Serotta builder Greg Fuquay as his personal race bike. Really light frame, no creature comforts like bottle cage bosses or eyelets whatsoever. Cable/housing runs to resist mud buildup and make shouldering/portaging easier. Race, rinse, repeat. Still made a nice regular rider, fit fatter rubber, but nothing wider than 32mm or so. It had a _very_ shallow bb drop, like track-bike-territory 55mm, so if you're sensitive to that it'd likely feel like you were riding way on top of the frame. I am fortunately cloddish and insensitive to many kinetic subtleties. I also don't always use science-y terms correct.

It also had weird squared-off seatstay-end tips. Less likely to snag skin when jumping on/off, or grabbing to shoulder, than a prettier pointed end? I dunno, but I can't recall seeing that treatment elsewhere. And the tiny seatlug-mounted rear brake cable stop was a pain to work with. Went with v-brakes on that really quick, then noticed how flexy the rear stays were, so the v-brakes got a booster.

As an aside, a good number of very talented builders either started or transitioned through Serotta over the years. Some, like Dave Kirk, Dave Wages and Kelly Bedford, are still building; others, like Fuquay and Rob Stowe, have hung up the torch. At one point I had an informal former-Serotta builder collection going, with a Kirk Terraplane, Wages-build W'ford RS-11, Fuquay's frame and a Rob Stowe. All I needed was a Bedford. It was entirely coincidental, and since the Fuquay/Stowe ended up not being keepers, that collection thread is broken.

More pix because I think it's an interesting, one-off, really purpose-built frame.










This is an early '95ish Waterford-built Rivendell Road, Grant's early foray into performance road frames that didn't mimic pro race bikes or touring bikes. Very nice, tasteful yet curly and in-your-face Richard Sachs-designed lugs. It was a little on the low side for me and has moved on.








Lastly is one of my two failed attempts to build and like neo-rando bikes/handling, a '13 Ocean Air Rambler. These were light steel frames tig-welded in the US, by Zen Fabrications in Portland, who is no longer building. I don't think Rob at Ocean Air is selling frames any more, either.

Anyhow, I thought I did everything right in terms of building, but I found that no matter what I did, I could not get comfortable with low-trail handling. Whether the front was relatively unloaded, or heavily loaded, we just didn't gel. I had this Rambler and a Boulder Bicycle Allroad, and couldn't click with either. The Rambler was 700c, the Boulder 650b. Looking back into my history, I did ride a Fuji Touring Series V frame for a few years, which was low trail, and I had that set up with a Blackburn Lowrider rack and incredibly solidly-mounted Specialized Tailwind panniers. I remember that combo feeling like magic, like there was no weight on the front whatsoever, except at very slow speeds, which I think is the intended rando nirvana. So maybe I just needed to get the weight lower on the Rambler/Boulder. They're both gone, so no matter.

And rando builds are a major pain, and the frames damn well better have a ton of bz-ons. The Rambler had bz-ons for direct-mount Paul Racer calipers, which was pretty cool.

BFisher 

Won't get this finished today, but it's getting there. Had to share a shot for the last day of October.

Drillium Dude 

Three's a crowd:



DD

merziac

H**Y CRAP MAN!

That's "freakin" awesome.

LBCwanabe 

CargoDane

Hahaha! That's so over the top it's frigging great!

orangeology 

the one i've been working on. was aiming mid-Oct for this post, alas still a few more stuffs to go i.e) handlebar decos, brake line etc.
commuter-clunker single speed with track parts & wheels on Masi 3V powder-coated orange.

Campagnerdo 

This Davidson Stiletto, miraculously, just kind of came together like you see it, it was a parts bin build. While I have another frame I would really like to use this group on, I can't break up this build, I enjoy it so much



.

pcb 

Just hitting midnight....

pcb 

Wow, that's quite an improvement! Who did the respray?

Drillium Dude 

So, to close out Orange Bike Month, I'd like to provide a little update regarding that trio of pumpkin-colored bikes I posted last night:



The one on the left is a restored 1973 Colnago Super which I still have (but ride infrequently because it's a wee bit too small for me nowadays) up here in WA:



The one in the middle is a 1979 Dennis Sparrow custom. It's been generally built up over the years with your basic NR/SR mix but saw limited riding miles; I dunno, the bike just never really inspired a lasting relationship. I took it apart this past summer. Most parts have been sold and only the F/F/HS/BB remain to be passed along when the time is right. Here's what it looked like on our final ride together:



The one on the right is a Bill Davidson, custom built for me in 2002. Originally kitted out with full Super Record, it was converted some years ago into my one and only "modern" bike with a swap to Campagnolo 8-speed Ergopower. Currently it resides at the family compound in Peoria, AZ doing duty as my Zero Bike:



DD

Lemond1985

Orange Bikes, Rad.

noglider 

Happy October, everyone. Any new pictures of orange bikes? Thank you.

Mr. 66

World

Rides much better than I anticipated.

Andy Antipas 

Serves as my gravel bike. 8 speed Campy with 45/35 Victory crankset.

Andy Antipas 

Sausage company orange.....

geoffr

My XO-1, bought new in ‘93

Kobe 

Not vintage but it's steel and I ordered the color custom, so that should count for something. Orange Glow over Sterling.

Drillium Dude 

The only one left:



DD

75lechamp 

1975 Motobecane Champion Team

Champion Team

1972/3 Super Champion (in progress....)

Super Champion in progress

Narhay

Not high end but it is orange. Gitane Interclub/Tour de l'Avenir

Drillium Dude 

75lechamp Interesting how the top tube decal, while turning from black to gold, survived while the surrounding paint did not - a very neat effect! Love the black anodized Campy Record brakes.

DD