Donohue 559 low-trail conversion

konga is in finland isnt he? looks like a perfect "road" bike for over there. this is cool!

Thanks, and Finland's correct. And that's my thinking exactly. I don't know how unique our road network is in that respect, but I think not having to worry too much about the condition of the roads will give a lot more freedom on the choice of routes outside of main roads. And since most of the unpaved roads are still easy to ride, I thought having a road bike style geometry would keep things more interesting.

Nice project. Additional bottle cage mounts are a nice touch I think.

No reason other than looks, I suppose. The way this turned out, old MTBs and their drop bar conversions were a big inspiration. Though I'm not sure how the modern shimano group fits with that explanation.

Understood completely, I went for quill on my rando bike just for the look as well (which paid off), but it's not set high (big saddle to bar drop for an audax bike), the main concern is that with the height you want to set the bar at, might end up being a little flexy compare to a decent ahead stem.

Awesome project. Did you ever considered putting on disc brake tabs instead of canti's?

Well, originally this was supposed to be a lower budget thing using a random cheap mtb fork. In part the cantis kind of stuck from that. I was also a bit worried about the durability of a 1" fork with disc brakes. I have no idea if this is a valid concern, though.

the main concern is that with the height you want to set the bar at, might end up being a little flexy compare to a decent ahead stem.

Sure, though I'd imagine that the high rise stem would be a bit stiffer compared to something like an equivalent tall nitto technomic. Interesting to see how that bar height will work, the stem will be pretty much slammed as in the cad drawing.

Fork and rack have been finished, due to be shipped today. Built by Piotr Lisiecki (on fb, instagram, also a few more pictures).

I'm somewhat enthusiastic about this ;)

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Pretty fucking awesome.

That's something I want on my Elephant.

Sweeeeeet

Received the fork & rack yesterday, very nice work IRL as well. The few measurements I took with the fork and wheels in place were satisfyingly close to the drawing, so apparently no big mistakes on my part.

Looks like the third bottle cage could have been further back, but there should still be enough room for a large bottle with a mudguard.

2" conti race king didn't clear the chainsays, so I'll probably have to look at crimping at some point. Not really a surprise, though.

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Amazing!

Really nice!

Word of warning - do not use alu bottle cages under the downtube!

Cos they'll seize?

They bend, downward force of the weight from the bottle pry them open the more vibration it get.

Noted, thanks. I've considered stainless kings, thought I could also ask whether they entertain custom orders to tweak the position of the third cage.

I used the Iris cages on the underside, because the shape clear the chainring easily.

i reckon you could always get a cheaper steel one and tweak it yourself by welding/brazing some extra metal to it? i reckon the extra weight will not be the objection izzit?

Don't even need to tweak it with steel or plastic even (like the Elite cages).

Because of the shape,

I used the Iris cages on the underside, because the shape clear the chainring easily.

?

Clearing the chainring is not an issue, what I meant was that there'd be room to move the cage closer to the bottom bracket to get a bit more front tyre / mudguard clearance.

Modifying a cage would mean finding someone to do the job, I don't really see that being worth the effort right now.

Anyway, it's a very small detail, since the current position should work as is.

So fucking rad.

Crimping the chainstays is a really easy job, a rolling stone and a vice will do the job.

Is the frame getting re-sprayed?

So fucking rad.

Crimping the chainstays is a really easy job, a rolling stone and a vice will do the job.

Link?

Cheers for the kind comments.

Crimping the chainstays is a really easy job, a rolling stone and a vice will do the job.

Thanks for the tip, any further pointers are appreciated. Searching for "rolling stone" turns up all sorts of irrelevant stuff.

Is the frame getting re-sprayed?

Probably, the paint was in pretty rough shape even before the modifications.

Big fan of this. was the rack hideously expensive?