Team Brite 853 Road - Paul Donohue

I picked this frame up a few weeks back to replace an old al Tifosi I didn't get on with particularly well. It's got a bit of history to it, having allegedly been ridden by a member of Team Brite in the past, and built by the well regarded Paul Donohue.

Not pictured: black, straight blade 853 forks. (Apologies for awful photo)

So far all I've done is give the frame a bit of a rub down and installed the fork crown.The plan so far is nothing exciting:
Shimano Tiagra group. This is all I have around, and (not that this is important to me at all) may look roughly period correct for the frameset.
Budget wheelset originally from spesh tarmac.

This being steel, the intention is that I'll own it for a long time and upgrade as my cycling ability improves. As it stands I can't justify ££££ on this.

Can anyone give me any pointers on nice 90/100mm quill stems and 27.2mm seatposts? I'm looking to jump straight into decent quality for these, preferably something a darker grey colour.

Also, anyone with any experience with boiled linseed oil as frame protector? I have a bottle and am likely going to try to treat the frame...

I've been offered a DA7700 group for this, which leaves me in a dilemma. What are people's thoughts?
Tiagra is not in any way glamorous but it's modern, functional and 10speed. I'd probably be a little out of pocket moving to DA, but it's high end kit at the end of the day, and is lovely looking.
Can't help thinking that if I spent a little more I could get modern 105, which would be fantastic

Modern 105 may mean that you need a new wheelset which may not be 11 speed compatible.

Zenith quills are quite cheap and good looking, nitto pearls and cinelli A1s are lovely but double the price.

Get the 7700 for this.

Agree with fussballclub, if the size is right for you, invest in better gruppo if you can. It's a lovely frame, I have one.

@venntim I'd love to see some pictures if you have any around!

I treated the tubes with some linseed oil tonight in prep for hopefully starting building this weekend. I've decided to stick with the Tiagra group for now, the compact suits me and I'm trying to save for a big summer trip, so flashy bits can wait until after that!
@Acliff thanks for the recommendation, I picked a Zenith up today

Currently in winter holiday, but will look into my files next week. But I think there are some pics of my bike in other Donohue threads.

Deda Murex stems are pretty hench. Have a kind of modern, angular look. Might look nice on this?

I also have one of these frames - ultegra di2 and some zipp wheels dressing it up though.

This is mine, Chorus 9 and Cinelli Grammo etc. It has got custom decals as I asked Paul to omit "Paul" from the logo – thought it would look cleaner that way. Still wondering how he agreed to do that... And how it ever came into my mind to ask a frame builder to modify his logotype.

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Well, the spec of my bike has been thoroughly shown up by those of @venntim and @Halcro but never mind, I don't have the money I don't have.

Started properly building this up today and faced a couple of setbacks.

Installed the headset cups successfully, but then when I went to screw on the top bit, it wouldn't go far enough and the fork was still loose in the frame. Does this mean I need a headset with a bigger stack height?
It seemed like if I could have screwed that bit on further (I couldn't), then, with a few spacers, the top screwy bit would have gone on and it would have been fine.
Can anyone give me any advice on this?

This is the headset I bought for reference:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/dia-compe-gran-compe-se-threaded-headset/?sku=5360388483
(Stack height: 34mm)

Also, seatpost bolt snapped, that was annoying.

So despite getting frustrated about the headset yesterday, I decided to throw just about everything on the frame as a mock-up for the final build:

I'm actually quite pleased with how it's come out (even with placeholder saddle/post)! As usual, sorry for terrible phone photo.

It's looking like I'm gonna have to try and find a local shop that can extend the threads on the fork.
Also looking for a seatpost, if anyone has any recommendations? I was thinking of chinese carbon just because, but it looks like something silver will look better...

Ordered a new headset with 40mm of stack, it still didn't fit, but I've since found a local shop who will extend the thread on the fork. I dropped it off there tonight and will pick it up when I'm back down south after Easter!

In the meantime I need to source a new seatpost bolt, then I should be just about ready to get it built up the weekend after Easter. First job after that; see how it handles the chilterns!

Took this to the shop (London Road Cycles in High Wycombe; great shop with a friendly atmosphere and good prices) and got the snapped seatpost bolt removed and replaced, the headset installed on the new extended thread of the steerer and some new cable ferrules that fit into the braze-ons in the frame.

Spent the evening putting it together. I've somehow ended up missing one brake cable, and I'm not convinced my cabling for the gears is good at all so today's job is to read a couple of guides on that, and hopefully I'll have it built up by the end of the weekend!

This has been built for a while now and I'm absolutely loving it. It suffered a crash since the initial build, which knackered the fd shifter and front wheel. I replaced the wheel but since the shifter still brakes okay I've just been making do with being stuck in the big ring.
Pictures to come tonight!

Here it is in 'bikepacking' mode:

[Post-crash, but still a joy to ride]

Trying to pull together a long term plan for this. All of my money is currently going into my summer tour but on the shopping list so far:

1. Superstar Components Pave 28 wheelset
   
2. Groupset upgrade. I'd like to try SRAM (probably Rival) for the looks/weight but would need a test ride first. Otherwise 105
   
3. Carbon fork (china carbon/tifosi - nothing too fancy, needs to be 1")
   
4. GP4000s (or alternative) because Gatorskins have no place on this
   

I'd put on an inline post (if that saddle position is correct)

Ribble cycles currently has a carbon 1" threadless fork for £69, threaded ones come up on Evilbay quite frequently.

If the position is right, why should I bother swapping the seatpost? Not trying to sound like an arse, legitimately interested since I did recently swap it out, but for another layback. The system ex one in that pic went on the tourer for a bit

Only aesthetics really :)

The saddle is slammed forwards. An online it would be in the middle.

Ultimately if you don't care about that aesthetic bit it won't matter ^=^

Check the fork rake before you get anothet fork, rake affects handling which does matter :)

Setback seat posts are generally more flexy for some nice comfy vertical deflection?

Are they? I haven't noticed but mine are all ALU. Sadfle rails supposedly can help too.

Yeah SMPs are generally nice when set pretty far forward. Makes sense that the layback would be more comfortable to me, plus the one that I bought is carbon (though with an alu clamp) so I'm winning all around in theoretical comfort terms

I run an Spez Oura on a Nitto Jaguar, seems OK too.

SMP are great, I'll whack one on my Donohue, I don't see the Spez giving me enough support when reaching for the drops.