ORBO Banana

[rickpaulos]

This has been sitting in the pile for a couple years. Could be a Jazz Voltage or Jazz Latitude by Trek based on the serial number but I need to take a closer look at the sn. I've had 5 Jazz bikes that started with Ji , this one is either Ji or J1. I think the original paint & decals are still there but I don't plan on messing with the messed up art work to find out.

 

[Pondo]

Someone did a nice paint job on there. It'd be a shame to mess that up.

 

[rickpaulos]

I might touch up the scratches. Perhaps paint the pedals, bars, rims/tires to match. I need to find a highway line painting crew and follow in their fresh yellow tracks.

 

[Wildcat]

That's an interesting paint job. I'll bet there's an interesting story behind it. I would try to find out more about it, beginning with a check of stolen bike serial numbers at the local PD. Might be a thousand dollar reward!

 

[rickpaulos]

Confirmed the serial number. Ji0200xxxxx
Still leaning towards it being a Jazz by Trek, perhaps a first year model 1992. Purple paint. Forged rear dropouts are often paired up with cromo tubing in the frames. No seat stay brake bridge. No top of the seat tube external sleeve. Still looking for a 1992 Jazz catalog. I did find a 1993 catalog but this bike is not in there. I'll have to look for component date codes.

Jazz was Trek's low end line of imported bikes they didn't make themselves. Following the same thing Schwinn did 20 years earlier. My guess they were initially not willing to put the company name on imported bikes. Well in both cases they got over it in a few years.