1990 Paul Donohue Max OR

mk one

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Have posted a couple of pics of this bike already, on the british steel thread, and thought i would start a thread for it.

It will be another slow thread and as of yet i am unsure as to what i will be doing with it regarding spec and cosmetics.

A while back on ebay, not searching for anything in paticular, i stumbled across this via the 'you might also be interested in these' links at the bottom of a page. It was mispelt so probably missed by some. It seemed ok in the pictures and after talking to the seller and sorting shipping, i placed a bid and suprisingly was the only bidder.

The seller had a few road bikes for sale and that was what he rode. The Donohue had been his race bike back in the day and hadnt been used since early '90s. It had obviously been maintained while he had been racing so survived the years pretty well.

I have been trying to trace its history/owners and as of yet no luck but still have a couple of leads to chase up.

The frame was made in 1990 according to the serial, and is made from Columbus Max OR tubing. It is fully filet brazed including bb and was made to run Hydro rear brake, no canti stop and hose cable guides. It is finished in blue, which under some of the tape, is more of a bright turquoise like the '96 Kona Kilauea, with stripes on the tops of the tubes which look white but change to pink/red when the light hits it and from certain angles, very nice in person.

Stripped the frame tonight, will take some pictures in the daylight tomorrow.

Mark P1011066 (Medium).JPG
 
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A few pictures of the frame, with a couple showing the tube profiles of the Max OR tubeset.

The frame came apart fairly easy, with just a few parts done up soo tight, but nothing seized or grotty. Just needs a good clean now.

Sorry for the poor picture quality.. P1011446 (Medium).JPG P1011467 (Medium).JPG P1011454 (Medium).JPG P1011469 (Medium) (Custom).JPG
 
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Some of the components off the bike, full XC Pro apart from the brakes and seatpost, and unbroken Unishocks :) . Not bad condition and should clean up ok.

Still not decided how im rebuilding the bike. Either XT730 and RC30's like the original owner had it, just put all the XC Pro and Uni shocks back on, or go a bit more modern and use M900 and more modern Pace and USE etc. P1011480 (Medium).JPG P1011484 (Medium).JPG P1011492 (Medium).JPG P1011486 (Medium).JPG
 
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Some frame details, including super stiff looking chainstays and the typical Donohue stamp on the seat tube extension, also seen on some other frames. P1011456 (Medium).JPG P1011470 (Medium).JPG P1011450 (Medium).JPG P1011478 (Medium).JPG
 
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Re:

Great frame this, pleased that you scored it! Those are almost certainly Max chain stays looking at them - this frame most have been a fair bit of £££ when built.

Another vote for the RC-30's here with the M73* XT - I would also try and source some early Hydrostops if possible, with the chunky black levers. I think these look ace with XT thumb shifters ;)
 
Re: Re:

mynchiboy":3khcolzh said:
Great frame this, pleased that you scored it! Those are almost certainly Max chain stays looking at them - this frame most have been a fair bit of £££ when built.

Another vote for the RC-30's here with the M73* XT - I would also try and source some early Hydrostops if possible, with the chunky black levers. I think these look ace with XT thumb shifters ;)


I have no idea on pricing for custom frames back then but yeah, i doubt i would have been cheap :)

Whichever build i go with i will be using Maguras with 2 of the 3 options using early Hydro stops. Just need to find some now, in good condition, shouldnt be too hard :LOL: infact will get a wanted ad up now to give me plenty of time to find some :)
 
Very nice, should be a unique looking bike once it's together. Voting +1 for M730, RC30, Maguras.
 
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