Well not actually G.O.D , but Gerald O Donovan one of the main men behind Raleigh's SBDU division and later lightweight build section .
Picked this up a few months back as not seen one of these before its a type 8806 Training frame from 1986/7 area , Reynolds 531 main tubes , mixture of golden arrow . 105 and 600 gears , 600 tricolour hubs laced to Ma40 rims , nice Miche aero seat post and the longest Cinelli stem i have even seen at 140 mm .
As some will know i am normally against refininshing frames but this one has been touched up badly around the base of the down tube and bottom bracket area amongst other smaller areas , so will have to decide what to do .
I bought it for the mix of components rather than the total bike but a quick spin along the cycle path and it feels like its got some pedigree .
My first thought was to strip the good bits off it and use them on other projects and sell the frame on , but i was so impressed with the bike that after stripping the bits off for other projects i kept the frame whilst i decided to have it re finished or not , after getting quotes from quite a lot of people to do the frame in same colours and decals but the quotes were over my budget , so i pushed it into the corner till i decided what to do with it .
Three months later and hey presto i decided it would make an ideal winter bike so thats what i have done although i have converted it to single speed , which i hope doesnt upset the purists too much .
The one part i didnt strip off and re home was this superb drilled Tange Levin alloy headset .
Picked this up a few months back as not seen one of these before its a type 8806 Training frame from 1986/7 area , Reynolds 531 main tubes , mixture of golden arrow . 105 and 600 gears , 600 tricolour hubs laced to Ma40 rims , nice Miche aero seat post and the longest Cinelli stem i have even seen at 140 mm .
As some will know i am normally against refininshing frames but this one has been touched up badly around the base of the down tube and bottom bracket area amongst other smaller areas , so will have to decide what to do .
I bought it for the mix of components rather than the total bike but a quick spin along the cycle path and it feels like its got some pedigree .
My first thought was to strip the good bits off it and use them on other projects and sell the frame on , but i was so impressed with the bike that after stripping the bits off for other projects i kept the frame whilst i decided to have it re finished or not , after getting quotes from quite a lot of people to do the frame in same colours and decals but the quotes were over my budget , so i pushed it into the corner till i decided what to do with it .
Three months later and hey presto i decided it would make an ideal winter bike so thats what i have done although i have converted it to single speed , which i hope doesnt upset the purists too much .
The one part i didnt strip off and re home was this superb drilled Tange Levin alloy headset .