Orange P7 and rigid fork - whaddya reckon?

[Hollywood Wheels]

Further to my recent thread, I reckon an Orange P7 with rigid forks would suit my needs. I'm not really a fan of suspension, although I can live with front suspension. I just can't imagine having a hybrid, not my bag.
The Orange would mean I could do some proper offroad stuff again, but could have some 26x1.00 slicks on there for the commute, with a nice forgiving cromo frame. I think they come with very basic orange brand forks, but I'd be looking at some Paces as an upgrade. Because of the lack of suspension I could spec-up with XT/XTR kit and a carbon post/bars etc, should roll along nicely. What do people think?

[Rico]

If you're going fully rigid, the Orange frame / Pace fork combo would work well. Can't fault it really.

[Hollywood Wheels]

That was my thinking, seems a very good compromise between speed/comfort. Always wanted an Orange too, one of the few bikes I haven't owned at some point. British and pure.

[pastrana72]

sounds cool to me, although i have lockout on the forks of my Cove HJ, best of both worlds, kind of, no not really, pace rigid forks will be cool on your bike, keep it light and fast.

[atom111]

I have converted my 2007 Clockwork Orange to road duties and the the PACE Carbon Rigid Forks, they really are very comfortable on the road. But the Clockwork Orange was designed for 100mm Fork and the PACE replaced those, so not sure if you can get a longer fork as the P7 can take a longer fork.

[Rico]

If Atom's comment is true about the frame being designed for slightly taller forks, there are options to optimise the geometry.

Chris King make a Tall Baseplate, which lifts the headset a small amount, which would help. You can use longer stems and more spacers, but those don't affect the head angle.

http://www.chrisking.com/parts/baseplates.html



But buy HERE

[wobert]

Hollywood Wheels said:

Further to my recent thread, I reckon an Orange P7 with rigid forks would suit my needs. I'm not really a fan of suspension, although I can live with front suspension. I just can't imagine having a hybrid, not my bag.
The Orange would mean I could do some proper offroad stuff again, but could have some 26x1.00 slicks on there for the commute, with a nice forgiving cromo frame. I think they come with very basic orange brand forks, but I'd be looking at some Paces as an upgrade. Because of the lack of suspension I could spec-up with XT/XTR kit and a carbon post/bars etc, should roll along nicely. What do people think?

Are you planning to build up a bare frame?

The standard P7S has Rockshox Tora forks which have a proper lockout on them. They are 95 - 130mm travel. IIRC the Pace forks are "corrected" for 100mm travel so they should be OK.

IIRC Orange only reduce the price by around 40 quid by opting for rigid forks.....the S has mainly Deore kit (hubs / shifters / front mech) but an LX rear mech & Avid Juicy 3 brakes, so there's quite a lot that would need upgrading, for not a little saving on the forks.

If you go for the "performance pack" you get the following for an additional 150 pounds:

Fizik Gobi Saddle
Thomson Elite Post
Thomson Stem
Easton Monkeylite CNT bars

I bought a P7S back in May, and am very impressed with it, a definate improvement on the rigid Clockwork I owned before.

HTH

Robert

[pawsmcgraw]

i ride PACE ridgid forks, have done for a couple of seasons now.They are real good, the set i use for racing have been hammered and have never had any issues.They do have a fair bit of damping in the for-aft movement which really helps with potholes and rough surface.I can really give a positive review of them, unlike the aluminium PACE frames which don't last more than a few thousand kms before they crack and fall to bits.And the warrenty is as much use as a chocolate fire guard!

[atom111]

Just got back from a road ride using PACE C-Types there are a great fork and soak up "some" not all the bumps