Donohue 853 lo-pro track/road fixed

I was alerted by TM that there was a promising-sounding bike for sale on a Manchester Facebook group. I think it was the first time he had ever seen a bike for sale in his size and not bought it, he felt bad that he owned my road bike's twin and wouldn't sell it to me.

All I had before taking the plunge was a couple of pictures, the information that it was a size 58 (I didn't know what that referred to), and the knowledge that it came with Ellipses. 853 and Ellipses for the price I paid meant that I really couldn't refuse.

My dad picked it up from Salford for me a good few weeks back, and I didn't see it until Sunday night. First impressions:

1.) Rusty (it had been kept in the greenhouse since my parents picked it up)

2.) Filthy (so much sludge on the chain and anywhere near it)

3.) Strange build
853, Ellipses, and then a half-link chain, road cranks, and no-name bars. The chainring bolts were all loose but there were no brakes. Not sure how it could have been ridden like this

4.) I love it
It fits really well, it's ridiculously light for a steel bike (or at least it was till I loaded it with a cheap black quill stem and Spatr bars)

I changed over the bars, tightened the chainring bolts, fit a brake (sorry) and went for a ride:

Reality quickly set in. The seatpost is stuck fast, albeit at almost the right height for me. I tried a little skid, and felt something move that shouldn't have moved. The back wheel was making an odd noise.

I also wanted to fit a pair of Miche cranks I have on my Pompetamine, but the logistics of that were making it pretty difficult, as was the fact that I had left my crank extractor at my old flat when I moved out. I bought a £19.99 Aldi toolkit yesterday, but the crank extractor on that won't do splined cranks, and won't work with the splined crank adaptor from my old one which I still had.

I tried to remove the cranks without the extractor - first with the 'bang it with a hammer' method, and then with the 'ride it around till they fall off' method, both without success.

The rear wheel's bearings must be shot, because it's pretty noisy and there's a bit of resistance stopping the wheel moving freely.

And after a trip to Halfords (the LBS in my town, the infamous Dave Hinde, had no tools), the frame is currently upside down, with the seat tube filled with Coke, seeing if that will free it.

What it should have, by the end of this week when I have to take it back down to London, is Miche Primato Advanced cranks, my old 52t Token chainring, and a Campagnolo Veloce BB. I don't have the tool to fit the latter, so I might have to use a stopgap Shimano BB-UN53 that I have in the meantime.

In terms of paint, I am still undecided. The idea of leaving it raw is quite appealing, as it is a nice finish. It would definitely need some sort of clearcoat though.

The easiest solution might just be Armourtex - I was thinking either RAL 7016, Anthracite Grey:
http://www.sunflex.de/fileadmin/lightbox/RAL-7016.gif

Which is very similar to my road bike, but a shade darker.

Or a bright, almost hi-viz yellow:

http://www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/images/Product/medium/923.jpg

And then I remembered that I liked the colour of the car I hired for my holiday last week, which was called white ice cream, and is similar to RAL 9001:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_rJ9K-m2lBjE/S865Gbf3F0I/AAAAAAAABQ8/ZEiQv6z87XY/s1600/RAL_9001_big.jpg

That would either look classy as fuck or just gash. Not sure.

The frame was originally red, but red is boring. Maybe I should get it done as awesome as charlesreza's 853 Donohue:

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k15/rezanicholson/IMG_0436_zpse0dd797e.jpg

One final bit of self-indulgence is about the frame itself. The track fork ends are original, and the bike has a clearly downward sloping top tube.

However, it is also drilled for brakes front and rear, and has mudguard eyelets as well, which is quite unusual. Possibly a custom-built winter training bike? Either way, even with eyelets, the forks are beautiful.

subbed

No comments without colour input!

yellow/pink with grey decals, making it the inverse of your road bike

I love it.

I think it looks great as is so I'd probably go clearcoat.

^^That would be great actually. Fadez are probably expensive though.

fades are expensive, talk to Argos cycles though anyway heard they do a really good job

Actually think I might leave it raw for now. Going to rub it up with some boiled linseed oil tomorrow while I'm waiting for the Coke to do its magic and then see what I think. If it looks awful, I'm still basically in the same position and can get it powder coated. Win-win.

fades are expensive, talk to Argos cycles though anyway heard they do a really good job

Close to £200 for two-colour standard paint. I'm sure it's nice, but most of my bikes have been cheaper than that.

OK, well the black and yellow thing we know will look good, as it's been done a few times on current projects here before.

The ice cream, I think, will look really gash. Which leaves the grey/green or raw. I loved the fact my rawed track frame even with a clear coat, seemed to change shade with time.

So in other words, paint it pink.

^^^definitely, looks ace as is....and like you say, when your decided, get it painted.

Vaz did the fades on that Talbot frame, that looked tight. Though doubt it would be cheap. either way, very nice frame. Hope the coke does the trick on that post.

Same, I'm wondering how long I should leave it fizzing away for. Tempted just to get the hacksaw to it as soon as I can if it won't come out tomorrow afternoon.

The paintjob on that Talbot is incredible, makes me think about turqoise to midnight blue fades. I think it's clear, I have no idea what colour(s) I want the frame to be.

obviously matching bikes would make sense

That's not going to really happen till TM sells me his Donobru, as this and my road bike will never look similar due to the shape of the tubes.

Stu F had sweet fadez done by a car painting guy for cheap and I think he hooked a couple of other people up (definitely offered too at least)

Same, I'm wondering how long I should leave it fizzing away for. Tempted just to get the hacksaw to it as soon as I can if it won't come out tomorrow afternoon.

The paintjob on that Talbot is incredible, makes me think about turqoise to midnight blue fades. I think it's clear, I have no idea what colour(s) I want the frame to be.

tommm I am going to vaz this weekend or next to pick up kalavinka, can ask for whatever you have in mind

if the frame is raw already and therefore no paint to damage why not just crack on and use the caustic soda to get the post out, garrunteed to work

That's not going to really happen till TM sells me his Donobru, as this and my road bike will never look similar due to the shape of the tubes.

jeeeze!

I find you an 853 donohue, in our size, with ellipses, for a bargain price, an unbelievable deal, and still... it's not enough!

I bet you were a nightmare at christmas.

If you're getting it painted, definitely get those braze ons removed/filed off...

Any joy with the post?

This really needs fadezzzz

There are quite a few stuck seatpost removal methods which are apparently guaranteed to work, I'm currently trying and failing at the hacksaw blade method, which is apparently foolproof. For future reference, Pro seatposts are very hardy.

The hacksaw method isn't 'easy' as such, but it works.

Are you working through the Shelton list in order?

[QUOTE My dad picked it up from Salford for me [/QUOTE]

stolen in armed robbery? :O