Modern Classic Graham Weigh 853

[GGJ]

1999 Paul Donohue built 853 frame

I bought this as a frameset directly from Graham Weigh last year and was originally going to build it up with some parts I had lying in the spares box. I'm so glad now I decided to give it a nice Shimano Ultegra 6600 groupset and 6700 wheelset as it is a fast machine that absorbs the rough roads we have here in Scotland

This was the advert picture

The frame arrived and when I removed it from the packaging my heart sank

The good news was that upon closer inspection it was just some muck and adhesive from lying around so a rub with the polish cloth removed it
The only mark on the paintwork is where a front wheel has been clamped onto the fork

Frame, forks, headset, boss screws and seatpin weigh in at 2.735kgs which from what little information there is on the net is on the light side for 853 framesets

The bottom bracket shell threads were rusty so rather than break anything I visited my LBS and he ran the tap through to clean them up, he then faced off the ends of the shells so that the Hollowtec BB sat nice and flush when tightened

Back home and I threw a few bits on to give me an idea of what the build will look like and I' was rather pleased with the look

Almost finished with just some minor bits left to complete the build

Blue decals now removed from rims, might remove the other decals too (Wheels now swapped to Ultegra 6700

 

[YahudaMoon]

Hi

Nice, bikes from the late 80's-90's, are my faves

Whats the tubing?

 

[GGJ]

There have been a few changes since building this up, the seatpost was changed for a Velo-Orange layback post, the wheels have been changed to Ultegra 6700 and I am waiting for a Selle Italia Flite TRANS AM arriving from Italy to complete it. At this moment in time it looks like this

 

[GGJ]

Hi

Nice, bikes from the late 80's-90's, are my faves

Whats the tubing?

Thanks, the tubing is Reynolds 853

 

[biggs682]

very nice indeed

 

[raleighnut]

Ditto

 

[YahudaMoon]

Thanks, the tubing is Reynolds 853

I know, it reads so in the title

 

[GGJ]

Selle Italia Flite trans am Titanium saddle arrived today from Italy and apart from slight rubbing of some lettering the leather itself is in superb condition. Looking forward to trying it out but that won't be for another few weeks yet. It actually looks like I could part out the layback seatpost for a standard one, but will wait until I've had a chance to try it on the road as it is

 

[Goldie]

Lovely. That looks like a brutally effective speed machine. Have you had it all on the scales now that it's built up?

 

[GGJ]

It's a lively ride when you step on the pedals and I've had a few PBs on it
On the road with pedals it comes in at 9.3 kilos, not exactly lightweight but the comfort of the steel more than makes up for the weight penalty

 

[GGJ]

The seatpost/saddle has always been a bone of contention with this bike. I originally fitted a rather lovely Campagnolo Chorus Aero post but I couldn't get the correct position with it, I needed a bit more layback, so I sadly sold the Campag post and bought a Velo Orange layback post, this gave me a good position but the post was uglier than an ugly thing, so I then bought that rather lovely Selle Italia Flite trans am Titanium saddle and realised that it wasn't the seatpost but the crap saddle I originally fitted that was the problem and so the hunt began for yet another seatpost. Sadly the price of good Campagnolo Chorus Aero posts have went skywards so I managed to find a rather lovely Dura Ace 7400 seatpost and I was happy with that, happy that was until someone offered me the sexiest seatpost to be made in the last century, a Corima Ellipse. The Corima Ellipse seatpost features a one-piece carbon fibre shaft and alloy satellite clamps. Uniquely shaped like a blade, it has a frontal cross section of only 7mm and weighs in at only 155g and to go with the Corima a Selle San Marco ODS saddle which is a great colour match for the frame. I'm unsure as to the saddle yet, I'm going to give it a go this evening to see how it is, then I'll make the decision on whether to swap it out for the Selle Italia Flite TA or keep it.

 

[GGJ]

I've not been able to use this since my fracture as the stretch from the saddle to the handlebars was too long and caused lots of pain, so tonight I swallowed a few pain killers and went for an easy 38 mile ride. I can confirm the saddle and seatpost are perfect

 

[Keith Oates]

That is one very smart looking bicycle and no doubt many miles of pleasurable riding are now waiting for you in the future.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!