Okay, I'll come clean! It was me that landed the Donohue bike on Ebay, mainly to fill a gap left by my old Nigel Dean. I did promise myself not to bid - really I did - but temptation overwhelmed me again 
Anyways, I came back from a nice little day trip by train from the Smoke to Nottingham and back to pick it up. The chap I bought it from was great to chat to and clearly liked his bikes but I muct admit I was a little shocked when he mentioned what was at one time a plan to 'modernise it a bit' which included switching it's forks for a pair of manitous or bombers :shock:
And what did I get for my efforts? Fillet brazed goodness everywhere for a start (I especially like the detail around the fork crown and wishbone but it's all good, as they say) M730 white label XT bits including double u-brakes, as pointed out by some eagle eyed folk on the Ebay watch thread. And a reasonably good pair of some of my favourite 80's rims, Mavic Oxygen M6's
I know there a couple of Donohue built bikes owned on here so maybe somebody can fill in the gaps for me. The parts mentioned look like original which pitches the bike as from '87-'88, but the frame number is 124689 which suggests 1989 perhaps? There are no visual clues either on frame material. I'm guessing maybe Tange Prestige or Reynolds but as it's maker used various tubing I'm none the wiser.
Plan wise it's going to be a very slow burner this one - the BT yellow colour is a poor repaint that is flaking all over the place and nasty to boot IMO so I will do something I haven't done for a while and get it refinished. All the M730 on it is serviceable so there is not too as much to find over time as there could be (mainly chainset, brake levers and thumbies) - and (ahem) some period tyres. Oh, and a turbo saddle methinks.
Some pics are below. I did scrape away some of the paint on the stem to reveal some neon orange but I don't reckon it means what it could..
Anyways, I came back from a nice little day trip by train from the Smoke to Nottingham and back to pick it up. The chap I bought it from was great to chat to and clearly liked his bikes but I muct admit I was a little shocked when he mentioned what was at one time a plan to 'modernise it a bit' which included switching it's forks for a pair of manitous or bombers :shock:
And what did I get for my efforts? Fillet brazed goodness everywhere for a start (I especially like the detail around the fork crown and wishbone but it's all good, as they say) M730 white label XT bits including double u-brakes, as pointed out by some eagle eyed folk on the Ebay watch thread. And a reasonably good pair of some of my favourite 80's rims, Mavic Oxygen M6's
I know there a couple of Donohue built bikes owned on here so maybe somebody can fill in the gaps for me. The parts mentioned look like original which pitches the bike as from '87-'88, but the frame number is 124689 which suggests 1989 perhaps? There are no visual clues either on frame material. I'm guessing maybe Tange Prestige or Reynolds but as it's maker used various tubing I'm none the wiser.
Plan wise it's going to be a very slow burner this one - the BT yellow colour is a poor repaint that is flaking all over the place and nasty to boot IMO so I will do something I haven't done for a while and get it refinished. All the M730 on it is serviceable so there is not too as much to find over time as there could be (mainly chainset, brake levers and thumbies) - and (ahem) some period tyres. Oh, and a turbo saddle methinks.
Some pics are below. I did scrape away some of the paint on the stem to reveal some neon orange but I don't reckon it means what it could..
