After a successful trip to the USA, where he won the Best Custom CX at NAHBS 2017, Tom Donhou has returned to the UK and is getting back into the swing of things with a spellbinding Midnight Green Modern Porteur, built for a local photographer.
Granted, the Midnight Green paintwork — applied by Tom himself – is subtle and darkly captivating, it’s what’s underneath that we’re interested in and that, specifically, is a frame made completely from Reynolds stainless 953 tubing.
953 is a steel that is incredibly difficult to work with, in that it is incredibly hard: you’d struggle to put a dimple in it with a hammer and a punch, and so requires a deft skill with the torch to maintain a workable heat.
Once wrought into submission, however, it results in a very strong and beautiful frame, especially when fillet brazed and brushed. To accentuate this, Tom left glimpses of it to show through the windows in the paint and the sleeve at the top of the seat tube.
The top cap is lockable by a fastener in the steerer and custom leather fob, located just nearby a brazed-on bell mount. The drive is a fixed Gates Carbon belt, with a front Paul Klamper disc brake and Love Lever.
The handlebar, stem, fork and front rack were all custom fabricated for the bike and painted to match, including the stainless fenders — a perfectly well-composed picture for a photographer’s porteur.
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