Orbit Gold Medal

[philtalksbx]

Just sold this one. Was superbly confident going down big hills in Massif centrale in the wind and rain, when my previous Specialised Cirrus would have been all over the road. Very well made bike.

I know what you mean about the downhill stability - according to Strava I hit 64kph on a short descent yesterday. That's a scary number and yet felt totally in control. I was very surprised when I saw that on the app when I got home. I don't think any of my other bikes have got anywhere near that.

 

[Gillstay]

I know what you mean about the downhill stability - according to Strava I hit 64kph on a short descent yesterday. That's a scary number and yet felt totally in control. I was very surprised when I saw that on the app when I got home. I don't think any of my other bikes have got anywhere near that.

Yes I can believe that, it did not matter either if you had just one full pannier, it still inspired and felt fully trustworthy. Someone knew what they were doing when they built it.

 

[uphillstruggler]

I have an Orbit Thompson, built I presume by their top frame builder Andy Thompson, posts on here as @Featch i think. It is a lovely bike to ride. I understand the Orbit bikes branded Thompson were more race oriented machines and the ones like yours, Gold Medal or Silver Medal we’re geared more towards the touring market View attachment 595405
View attachment 595407

View attachment 595408

That Thompson is lovely

 

[philtalksbx]

The last parts have arrived so it's been a busy weekend.
Frame, bars, headset, seat and post, calipers and wheels have remained. The rest got swapped.
So I now have end to end Shimano 105 5700 era, with compact hollowtech2 crankset and the GS mid-cage rear mech. The cassette is still the nine speed HG50 in 11-30 which may get swapped for a 10 speed 11-32 eventually.

Shifters are a silver levered pair robbed from my Orbea that now has a much more suitable black set.

Cranks are 5750 compact, again in silver to keep the theme going.

A 10 speed 105-GS medium cage will allow for a bigger cassette. The frame rust is clear on this shot.

105 calipers were fitted already so no work there this weekend.

And my favourite decal is on the downtube.

Although the others aren't bad, very eighties.

At the start of proceedings on Saturday morning, the bike weighed in at 9.97kg with downtube shifters and and a square taper triple. At the end of the build it came out at 10.04kg. That's not bad at all, and stays around my target 10kg.

I had two short rides out on Sunday and it has really made me smile. Safe handling on some of the sketchier roads around here, and very fast. It just seems to gather pace really easily and I've posted multiple PBs over and above some quick rides on my modern carbon roadie.

From here it's going to be detailing with a more thorough clean and polish, and just enjoying it. Eventually I will get around to the ten speed cassette, possibly going to 28mm tyres (currently 25s) because there's plenty of room in the frame geometry (unlike the carbon bike), and then there's the big question on the paintwork. There are a few patches of surface rust, take a look at the rear stays for example, so I could find a near match and touch them up piecemeal, or go for a proper shot blast and powder coat. I'm going to park that for a while, plenty to do and enjoy for now.

 

[Gillstay]

Smashing Bike ! Enjoy.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

View attachment 595748

The crankset and bottom bracket were a bit of a challenge.

Holy shoot! That's in a right two-and-eight.. No-one can accuse you of exaggerating that task can they?

 

[philtalksbx]

Holy shoot! That's in a right two-and-eight.. No-one can accuse you of exaggerating that task can they?

There is a point of no return, and I‘m afraid I got way past it on this one so all subtlety went out of the window.

 

[rogerzilla]

Don't powdercoat it! It'll ruin it. It has lugs, and it needs wet painting to preserve the sharp outlines.

 

[Legs2]

It didn't need to be this hard....but that's what weapons of mass destruction are for.

View attachment 595748

The crankset and bottom bracket were a bit of a challenge. Non-drive side crank arm was a mess and ended up being taken out with an angle grinder. Behind that the lockings were seized, one come off ok but the other didn't. The inserts were also seized and with a lot of help from a vice and a cold chisel it all came out without damaging the threads. Took about four hours and a lot of swearing.

Ive got an orbit with a similarly stuck bottom bracket, I've got to a point where the lock rings are now off ive pulled out all the bearing cages and the spindle so im just left with the inserts one end ive shattered in a vice trying to get it out. The other end is OK whats your chisel method? otherwise the frames for the bin

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Cut axially through the outer bit of the bearing cup that protrudes from the frame very carefully with a small angle grinder fitted with a cutting disc. And I mean carefully!
Then get a small abrasive stone mounted in a Dremel or similar tool and equally carefully, start to thin out the metal from the insde working radially outwards towards the BB threads. If you are patient you can cut away almost all the thckness of the bearing cup at one location without causing any damage. It will get to a point where it can be shocked loose without doing any damage as the cup will lose it's grip on the internal BB threads. You will probably also need to use penetrating oil, preferably a few days in advance of doing any grinding. so it can soak in.
Forget about using a hacksaw, the bearing cup will be case hardened and the only things that will cut it is either an abrasive disc or a cutting flame - which would destroy the paint.