A friend dumps this old pile of parts off at my place last week. What could possibly go wrong?

The frame is late 80's or early 90's from Bill Davidson (Seattle frame builder), and would guess the same for the rest of the components. (2-8 gears) The brifters, brakes, hubs, and front derailleur is all Dura-Ace, and appear to be in great shape. If I had a concern, other than figuring out how the heck everything goes together, it's the rear derailleur, which looks to be a newer Deore rather than older Dura-Ace. I suspect this will give me some grief later.

I'm mock-assembling everything in the family room (don't tell my wife) to get some clue about missing or obviously wrong parts, then it'll come apart for prep and paint. The frame is way to big for my friend, not sure what he's going to do with it when it's finished.

Good times.

My guess is the Deore rear deraileur replaced the original Dura Ace to accommodate a wide range cassette.

Oh man you don't leave a Davidson out in the rain in the PNW, your friend did the right thing to drop it off with you, hope it gets some needed TLC.

Friends like that deserve Famous Grouse.

That looks like a fun project.

Does that stem say IBIS on the side? If so, that's an expensive little item and most likely titanium.

Please continue to post your progress.

Yup, with a 'Titanium' stamp on the stem as well. No idea it was particularly valuable.

If all goes well, the frame/fork will get paint next weekend, with assembly after it fully cures.


John