Last year's Mildenhall Rally got me some alloy wheels for my old commuter
bike, so I could persuade myself I deserved a new bike.
After getting the Tricross earlier this year, Mildenhall provided some
brakes (10 quid), levers, (3 quid) a sprocket and lockring (6 quid) and
some decent pedals (30 quid) .. and the old bike got stripped back a bit.
After some suitable mangling (I'd bought a 1/8 sprocket instead of 3/32
and the brakes weren't deep enough), here's the result :
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/fangorn/pics/dscn4091.jpg
1985 Raleigh Winner
Original double crankset (using small ring, 42 teeth)
Villiers 15 tooth sprocket, ground down to 3/32
Alhonga brakes (drilled front fork for recessed bolt, DIY spacing
block to mount rear brake)
Dia Compe levers (with hoods, for the first time on this bike !)
Stainless eggbeater pedals
Maillard hubs, unnamed rims (quite likely the same wheels fitted to
better Raleighs of the era).
I'm very pleased with it : the hardest thing to get used to is the
loss of the auxiliary brake levers. The eggbeaters are great - easier
to enter than the Quattros I've got on the Tricross, but I might still
have to put clipped pedals back on so I can use it as a hack bike :
it's not always convenient to wear cleats when shopping.
-adrian