The Doniselli From garage wreck to.........

[Buxton]

Hi everyone I'm Tom and the story of me and the Doniselli started 10 months ago after the unfortunate circumstance of having my SAB commuter bike stolen I decided I needed another university bike. The budget wasn't massive and I refused to get a halfords special so a few weeks trawling eBay for bikes under £100 found nothing I was getting a bit desperate.

Finally a bike came up with a single photo which must of been shot with a potato! But I thought it was worth going to see as it was close by and it had no bids so off I went and what was there was a bit rough around the edges to say the least! But the wheels were true and the gears and the brakes worked so for £20 I whisked it away without even worrying what it looked like I thought it would do a job.

So here is how the bike looked when I first got it! Excuse the washing in the hall

Looking back it was pretty bad but it worked and for about a month I was content with it. After that I got the bug and things escalated quickly.

 

[Buxton]

So a month had past and the bike had not set a foot wrong but I thought it was worth giving everything a service and actually finding out what I had bought.

Trying to find about what the bike turned out to be quite hard. There was no reference to these bikes been sold ever in the UK or how old the bike actually was.
The only option I had left was to try and contact Doniselli directly which I didn't think I had much chance of getting anything from as they were a small Italian bike manufacturer with no real internet presence.

Anyway I fired an email off with the pictures I had in my last post asking how old it was and to my surprise Mr Doniselli got back to me, rather a nice thought that it was still a family run company, and to my shock he gave me the news that the frame would of been built around 1960.

After this I thought it wasn't quite right that a bike that old which still ran so I started what turned out to be the long process of renovation.

I got all the 1980's components off the bike and decided I would start again.

The first job was the frame it was bad! I started off with the idea I could rough the existing paint up and spray primer onto that. So I trialed it on the forks needless to say it didnt work and the high build just flaked straight off after drying.

I had no option I had go back down to metal so after a lot of sanding and scraping of what appeared to be black hammerite paint I finally got it to a bare frame which is when I found the frame had the dull orange hue of rust .

 

[Jonny69]

Come on, don't leave us hanging...

Nice looking frame.

 

[dirttorpedo]

Re:

Doesn't look fatal. Nice lugs. Sooooooooo?

 

[Buxton]

From stripping the frame down I had decided it turned up something I hadn't even put thought into and that was the 4 holes in the frame. A 1960's frame with internal cabling! I was a bit perplexed but Doniselli were known for one off bikes and there was no sign of them been put in a later date.

So upon this I decided along with the new paint job I had to setup the internal routing as it would of been. That meant I would need a one by front chain wheel and on the first day of looking I found a single gnutti chainwheel for £15 so I snapped it up straight away without hesitation and the following week I went to a cycle jumble in sheffield and picked up a single campag clamp on shifter and a campag victory rear derailleur as it was very shiny and the simplex one I had looked a bit rubbish. With a fair few new bits for the bike and the frame having a coat of jenolite I got cracking with painting the bike. Id love to say I had pictures but unfortunately I've lost them.

The frame was painted and the new parts were on and then I went to see a mate who has a lot of vintage bikes and bits and rummaging through his stuff I got myself a set of maillard wheels and a 3t bar and stem to finish off the bike.

The only thing I'd over looked were decals so I went back to doniselli to see if I could buy some and after a couple of emails and two weeks they just sent me some over which I know its not a lot but I was over the moon.

So just before L'eroica last year I got it finished and this is what it looked like!

I hope you like it a bit has changed since and there are few bits more I have got... A set of campag wheels with a flip flop hub and campag victory chainwheel which I am going to adapt to a one by.
Hopefully its good weather tomorrow so I can get some more pictures as it is now.
Would anyone care to see the rest of the bikes me and my parents own? A Raleigh record sprint, Carlton Criterium, Rotrax, Carlton Continental or the current project for my girlfriend a Meral mixte? Let me know

 

[dirttorpedo]

It is lovely. You have interesting taste in bar tape, but the whole bike is just wonderful.

 

[REKIBorter]

Re:

Looks like it's going fast even when standing still. Good job.

 

[coomber]

Brilliant. Top paint job as well.

 

[Nob]

maybe I'd go with white saddle & white bar tape but its a good solid finish considering what it started off like.

 

[Buxton]

As promised here are a few shots of the bike from earlier today

Hope you all like