Look,I used to ride clunkers with 44t rings on hills in SA . I find modern MTB groupsets far to under geared
Tosh:Beautiful bike. Simple, no frills and should just work (well). I expect there are lots of options to change the gearing if you need it. Over time the hills will become flatter I used to ride in the winter with studded mt. bike tires - talk about loose fitness over the day it took to change from regular tires to the studded ones. The extra wt. was awful. On the other hand the change back in the spring made my fitness level go up tremendously.Good luck,John.
Great bike you've got coming there tosh, Orange is a make I wish I had purchased all those years ago, very nice indeed.Zed - was it you who had a PK Ripper?
Found another serious issue with the Orange.The rear FIR wheel had 3 small splits (spoke holes). Seller has reimbursed me £100, just purchased a set of Mavic 221 wheels with Kendal tyres (£25). Seller has confirmed no damage whatsoever. So hoping just need to transfer rear cassette over. Also need to replace those headset bearings. But contemplating on swapping the whole stem for a more modern version???
Sorry you have a few issues mate but yes joys of old bikes as for stem,you could try and find a Aheadset stem adapter,is the orange a older1inch type? Google Aheadset 1inch stem adapter
Update :Mavic X221 wheels arrived a few days ago - seem okay, certainly not mint. But tyres are very good, so I'm happy.Had a rummage through my bike box, found the Shimano cassette removal tool, but could not get it to work. After 2hrs, I gave in and took both wheels to Halfords. He tried using my adapter....couldn't get it to work either (too long he said) so used his own - off in seconds!!!Back home fitted new wheels with their Kendal tyres. Fatter tyres really suit this bike, makes the slender frame stand out. I think I'm going to take bike to LBS for new headset bearings (I'll upgrade to Needle bearings I think?)Have been deliberating swapping quill stem for more modern version, but in the end I decided to keep the bike as original as possible. Does anyone have any ideas how much I can expect to pay for a decent headset fitted?
Oh looking good there. So how old is "vintage" ?