Sparky's Donhou road bike

http://i.imgur.com/LcSWi.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/AXd4h.jpg

http://prollyisnotprobably.com/2011/03/donhou-bicycles-sparkys-road-bike/

Since then it's gained a couple of bottle cages and lost some steerer tube.

That is a thing of beauty. I'd kick my GF out of bed and sleep with that

Love it!

Where's the rear mech cable going? Into the seatstay? Or not wired-up?

seatstay -> toptube by the looks
nice bike, I wish you you will never be forced to sell it

seatstay -> toptube by the looks
nice bike, I wish you you will never be forced to sell it

I was considering selling it, actually. I'm buying my first flat at the moment and things are going to be tight. If I did do it I'd probably be back to see Donnie again once I was on my feet.

That'd be a great shame! Looks a lovely bike .. Got to throw my 2p in and say strip it if money's that tight and try to hold onto the fuselage to rebuild when things are better ..

dibs

^^ that.

I was considering selling it, actually..

You're not, what else are you going to do the LEL Audax on?

We'll see. I'm still mulling LEL over. It's a big ask. I've got the day off today so maybe me and the Donhou will go out for a spin and a think.

sell bits, keep the soul

Can't believe I was talking about selling this. That would have been stupid. Page 71 of the latest The Ride Journal has some ramblings about this bike.

I guess it's one of those moment that once you rode it, you realised you don't want to part with it in the very least.

I guess it's one of those moment that once you rode it, you realised you don't want to part with it in the very least.

For sure.

Just out of curiosity, what is a rough price for custom built frame set?

Sparky's 2012 pricing will differ hugely to 2014, so except a bigger hike in price.

^^ Drop Tom a line, he'll send you a current price list. I have the 2013 one in front of me and his base price was £1425 for a 631 road frame (without forks).

https://instagram.com/p/0ibQO4DVMd/?taken-by=mattsparkes

Just stripped the whole thing. Was probably overdue.

Star nut got stuck, bolt was spinning uselessly, so I had to knock it out from underneath.

Only other problems seem to be shot bearings on bottom bracket (is it cheaper to buy replacements or a whole new BB?) and two lost ball bearings in the upper headset bearing (can you buy individual balls, or cages full of balls for a Campagnolo Record headset?).

So, not too bad, all in all.

I'm also going to be adding some sort of rust inhibitor to the inside of fthe rame. Does anyone have a recommendation? I'm thinking of using ACF-50 as I have some already for my Vespa.

New BBs are pretty cheap, compared to trying to replace cartridge bearings. As for the headset, ditch the cage and just use loose bearings (though you can indeed pop new balls in the old cage if you like, but replace them all while you're at it)

I actually spotted a new set if bearings on Wiggle for £20 - should've looked at BB prices but it's ordered now. Also bought the little clips which I never installed but was apparently supposed to.

As for balls: where does one buy balls? And what size balls should one buy?