Donhou track

it looks nice, and I know your feeling. just need last injection of cash to finish my stuff.

have you checked, if the stem is ok with carbon steerer?

have you checked, if the stem is ok with carbon steerer?

You momentarily terrified me because I remember reading that the Thomson X4 wasn't recommended for carbon steerers at one stage. Fortunately the Thomson X4 FAQ (http://bikethomson.com/stems/elite-x4-31-8-mountain/) says:

*Q – Is X4 safe for carbon fiber?
A – X4 is engineered to work very well with both carbon handlebars and carbon steerer tubes. All torque requirements in our instructions must be strictly followed for carbon components. Our carbon bars work nicely with X4! *

Phew!

ha sorry. yeah, thats what I remembered.
Also just noticed the choice of forks up the page, sorry for being stupid.

this is the Thomson stem that can't be used with crabon:

What size are you tyres? The clearance on those enve's look huge

Not a fan of steel, but that belt sander.

What size are you tyres? The clearance on those enve's look huge

The tyres are 700x25s... the clearance does look pretty big doesn't it? There are various pages on the Internet stating a clearance of 700x28 or even 700x32 on some vendors' sites.

Wider rims = tyres sit slightly lower which helped too.

Still ogling my bike from long-distance.

Via road.cc:

http://road.cc/sites/default/files/imagecache/lightbox-large/images/Donhou%20at%20Bespoked%20Bristol%202013/Donhou%20Bicycles%2033.JPG

Bloody lovely.

Did i see a picture of you and the bike united somewhere on the internetz yesterday?

Paint/no paint design is really striking, it's a beautiful thing.

Are you willing to tell us how much you paid for this? Not because I would ridicule a price, generally I think frame builders are underpaid.

Also, how do you say this builders name? Don hoo?

Did i see a picture of you and the bike united somewhere on the internetz yesterday?

Yes I'm afraid on my first full day back in London, I dragged my arse over to Hackney Wick to pick it up, had a good chin wag and rode the damn thing back.

I'm going to save my impressions till I have settled down a bit, but needless to say it's really nice and pretty bloomin' light (16 lbs with pedals)

Paint/no paint design is really striking, it's a beautiful thing.

Are you willing to tell us how much you paid for this? Not because I would ridicule a price, generally I think frame builders are underpaid.

Also, how do you say this builders name? Don hoo?

Hey Skully, no problem at all.

For a 953 frame with paint job, I paid around £1800 for the frame. I had a year to save up, but the fact is now I have 2 Donhous, a Feather and an Enigma, so frankly I deserve to have ridiculed but my approach to riding is that there can no such thing as a "Sunday best" bike to be babied around if all your bikes are "Sunday best" bikes: just ride the hell out of all of 'em when it's wet, dry, cold or warm!

Donhou seems to be pronounced Don-hue (as in "colour hue").

A few more quick shots. The colour scheme was lifted from the Leica camera (black, red and chrome) and Tom left part of the frame raw to reflect how those cameras have traditionally worn over time. The question will be how the fillets hold up, but we'll wait and see. I have to say the contrast between the raw stainless and the matte paint is pretty sweet.

Royce!

One concession to show bike frippery: custom Busyman Fizik Antares saddle

My approach to riding is that there can no such thing as a "Sunday best" bike to be babied around if all your bikes are "Sunday best" bikes: just ride the hell out of all of 'em when it's wet, dry, cold or warm!

Great approach, I'm selling all my bike bar the custom so I'll ride this one.

there can no such thing as a "Sunday best" bike to be babied around if all your bikes are "Sunday best" bikes: just ride the hell out of all of 'em when it's wet, dry, cold or warm!

Totally agree, whats the point of having them if they don't get ridden?! Saying that; my next bike is going to be a cheapish frame built up with my scruffy Ultegra group as I'm a 4th cat and there is too much crashing to have anything too nice :)

And back on topic - that is lovely! The Busyman saddle is a nice finishing touch too, Mick does some great work.

Those fillets are exceptional. Show us your Feather!

Just seen this thread today. Love the bike and the great insight to your decision making process. Repped.

Utterly beautiful!

... I have 2 Donhous, a Feather and an Enigma ...

When I grow up I want to be you ;)

Beautiful bike nonetheless.

Which Leica is this based on?

Which Leica is this based on?

Oh, anything that is chrome, black and red. Perhaps the M6?

http://www.kenrockwell.com/leica/images/m6/D3S_8427-600.jpg

As modelled by her majesty Scarlett Johansson:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sHRAMF1lna8/UNySYNvfh6I/AAAAAAAARqk/5F3urD-zmhM/s640/Scarlett+Johansson+with+her+Leica+M6+Silver.jpg

The ironic thing being I sold some Leica equipment to fund this bike!

So having ridden this for a few days now, a few things have abundantly clear.

At 7.25 kg it's the lightest steel bike I've ridden. I notice in particular how light the rear end is. The thing is that it's also very stiff and has all the traditional smoooothness and comfort of steel. I need more time to medidate on the exact cause behind this since there are probably too many factors, but it feels quite different from my 853 and Ti road bikes.

Because of the quite aggressive positioning, it just begs you to go faster and faster and one almost always naturally end up sprinting. And the bike is totally silent. There's been a few times, particularly at night, where I've been bombing down Clerkenwell Road when all I'm hearing is the hum of the tyres against the tarmac when I suddently realise "shit, you're going too fast, slow the hell down".

I did make a couple of mistakes though: I forgot about the relatively big reach of the Mash bullhorns compared to other Nitto and Syntace horns that I've ridden, so I've had to swap out to a shorter stem. Looks less boss, but the reach is much better now, more in line with my bike fit measurements.

Secondly, my blind insistence on my favourite setback saddle (Fizik Cyrano Carbon) has meant that the Antares saddle rails are as far forward as they can go, which may not be exactly ideal. I need to break out the plumb line and accurately measure the saddle tip to BB distance, but my guess is that I am perhaps 1-1.5 cm off my ideal positioning. The nose alignment of the Antares saddle is a little different from the others that I'm more familiar with too, I get the feeling that I will have to tilt it a little more downwards than I am used to.

So I may be in the market for a black inline seatpost. If I were going to match my stem, I'd pick up a Thomson Elite/Masterpiece, but part of me wants to try something a bit more different and more exotic, with the additional caveat that the branding has to be non-obnoxious. Anyone have any recommendations? Have been casually looking at some of the Ritchey WCS carbon models but reviews of the 1-bolt models appear mixed. Part of me wants to say "f*ck it" and get an Enve...

NOS syncros post?

Hmm yes that's an option.

Maybe the Easton EC90?

So many options...