Bikes of the Bunch: Donhou Signature Steel DSS1

by CyclingTips

You might recognise the name Donhou Bikes from the "100mph Bike" they built a while back; a bike with a 104-tooth chainring. Well, Donhou is now also producing a handcrafted stock model called the Signature Steel. We spoke with Donhou Bicycles founder Tom Donhou, and the proud owner of a Signature Steel, David Ollerhead, about the bike and how it rides.

For Tom Donhou the Signature Steel DSS1 represents a new direction for Donhou Bicycles and it’s a development he’s very excited about.

“We love working with our customers on the custom builds and both us and the customer get a lot out of creating these truly one-of-a-kind bikes. But I really wanted a Donhou ‘product’, something that is all Donhou, a bike exactly how we want it, a ‘signature’ build.”

The development of the Signature Steel was also motivated by the wait times on the company’s custom builds.

“With such a long wait for custom builds we also wanted to be to able to make Donhou a little more accessible. With the DSS1 if we have your size in stock you can ride one away custom built with the component package of your choice within two weeks.”

We asked Signature Steel owner David Ollerhead what attracted him to the bike:

“I have to say it was the incredible paint that sold it to me — so shallow I know! I have been admiring the custom builds for some time. The problem is I’m very impatient and a-year-plus wait on a custom build doesn’t work for me. When the Signature Steel was launched I seized my opportunity.”

David came to the Signature Steel having ridden many carbon bikes and was intrigued to see how it rode.

“It’s not as light as my carbon [and] it has disc brakes that I’d never ridden before. It all just comes together into this incredible bike — it’s super comfortable, handles with real confidence, and still packs a punch when you want it to.

“I recently took a trip to the Alps and although I’d planned to take the carbon, it ended up getting left in the shed. I grabbed the Donhou and was so glad I did — it ate up the miles and with all that descending the discs came into their own.”

The bike is spec-ed as follows:

Tubing - Reynolds 853 Pro Team
Headtube - 44mm custom machined
Bottom bracket - 68mm BSA
Front derailleur hanger - stainless braze-on
Dropouts - Donhou with stainless steel faces
Disc mount - post style
Fork - ENVE 2.0 1 1/4″ tapered disc road fork
Wheels - Chris King R45 disc/Sapim CX Rays/H+Son Archtypes
Tyres - Continental Grand Prix 4 Season (25c)
Groupset - Ultegra cable (electronic version available)
Disc Callipers - Avid BB7 SL
Rotors - Avid 140mm
Cockpit - Fizik Cyrano R3
Seat post - Fizik R3
Seat - Fizik Arione R5

The frameset price is £2,295 (AUD$4,160) with ENVE 2.0 disc road fork and Chris King Inset 8 headset.

For more information about the Donhou Signature Steel, visit the Donhou Bicycles website. Click here to see more about the 100mph Bike.

haitch

That paint, just beautiful.
AJ

Wow, great package. The new Fizik finishing kit works perfectly with this build.
Strictly B Grade

I look at these photos and think “I really should get my Cecil Walker refurbished.”
LeeRoy

Very nice indeed - but a steel frame would be even nicer with a traditional top tube and brakes (I know, call me old-fashioned).
whynot

$4100 for a steel frame makes me want to build one myself….

Columbus SL tube set is only $125 - not sure about $853, but I think that’s about $150. Cant be all that hard eh?
http://www.cycle-frames.com/bicycle-frame-tubing/COLUMBUS-SL-ROAD-TUBESET.html
- Mark M.
  
  LeMond’s new 853 frame with an Enve for is $1799. Think I’d go LeMond…
  - Sean Doyle
    
    What your paying for is the personal attention and made to measure bespoke frame. Total materials for something like this usually runs close to $1000 with paint. Then you add in the overheads and what the builder thinks he’s worth per hour to build the bike for you. One man shop usually takes one to two weeks for a one off bike sometimes more. Daryll McCulloch of Llewellyn bikes takes 250 hours to build his Signature top shelf frame. After materials he’s looking at around $30/hour. He’d still have to take the overheads out of that.
    Plus you have exchange rates and cost of doing business elsewhere to compare to our market.
    Compare that to a factory that batches everything up and has a different dude welding rear drop outs to someone welding front triangles and all to generic sizing. Youll never be able to cpmpete with that as a lone craftsman. Price is not the reason you go the custom frame building route.
    - d;
      
      Don’t think this one is bespoke, so what you’ve said does not apply mostly
      - Sean Doyle
        
        Yep, sorry I forgot about that when I came back to read the comments. Still. Its a small workshop and our exchange rates sucks with the pound so it will blow the cost out. Still no comparison to mass produced economics.
- haitch
  
  You’d probably need a few sets of those tubes - I’d guarantee your first go wouldn’t be worth riding!
- DIY
  
  Why not bake bread while you are at it.
WEK

The number two all time most beautiful bike of the bunch. Second only to the stainless steel firefly. Love it.
awesometown

Does anyone here have real experience with these h+son rims? They’re all over the cool dude / hepcat cycling blogosphere, but the answer to why they’re so popular on that end is the “clean graphics, bro!”

Does anyone have any riding feedback to provide, graphics aside?
- Sean Doyle
  
  yep. They are reasonable weight, straight, strong/stiff and a decent price. Ticks all the boxes plus the look the dogs nuts. IMO.
- http://www.fyxo.co/ fyxo
  
  I like them.
  - Todd!
    
    You’re a “cool dude / hepcat” from the Cycling blogosphere though.
    - http://www.fyxo.co/ fyxo
      
      My ‘real’ experience is that they have performed well in the year I’ve been using them on my own bike(s). I have both archetype and TB-14s. Yes, they look clean and simple with minimal graphics, I remove them for an even cleaner look.
      
      I spec them on custom builds for the same reasons Sean gave.
      
      Curve Cycling are releasing an alternative to the TB-14 while I’m also interesting in trying.
      
      While you may dismiss my endorsement of them as just another ‘cool’ cycling blogisphere bandwagoners, I have no reason to pump up the tyres of any product that I don’t like as I don’t derive income from reviews or advertising because they are inherently flawed and biased.
      
      If I like a product, or service I spread the word. That hasn’t changed since I started.
      
      Failing this, you could always ask a forum.
      
      Best wishes
      Andy
- Emil
  
  Yeah, they are strong, stiff and easy to build with.