It's been a slow week

Not a lot to report this week. No progress on 010106 - too much "real" work going on.
Carbon 1 is still in the paint shop. Latest excuse is sick staff. The problem with that is that on the last and previous calls, they claimed they were "mixing the colors right now". My confidence level is low and I'll pull the frame if they aren't ready by Friday.

I did score some components on the web. I got a nice pair of MKS road pedals - old campy copies. As usual, the bearings need to be repacked and adjusted, but prior experience says that these will work well for a long time. And personally, I like bearings I can tune, repack, etc. I also scored some old Simplex Prestige front deraillers. They were available in lots of 1, but lots of 3 were so cheap that I couldn't resist. Anyhow, I have everything now to put together my vintage style bike. This will be built with standard size tubing using some nice Tange lugs and fork crown.

There is something irresistible about the simplicity of the Prestige front changer. There were other similar ones produced at the time, but the Prestige is what dominated the market and hence is easiest to find. The cage moves only laterally, on a rod. The works of the derailler are contained in a plastic case on the back of the seat-tube. The rod has a rack ground into it, and there is a pinion gear on a pivot, with a lever sticking down out of the case. The cable connects to this lever and pulls it one way while the return spring pushes it the other. Very simple, few parts, light, easy to manufacture, and it works. I'm not sure front derailers have progressed much since then.

I'll have a a new (used) pair of track wheels soon for a project bike I have forming up. It'll use std sized tubes with fleur de lis lugs, and a real track fork. It'll have some of Kirk P's track dropouts (the prettiest form of the current crop) with SS faces from John Kundziera in Madison (although Kirk now offers them too). Should be pretty.

Also, my next carbon tube set has arrived, this time DCS. This promises to be fun. Also, my lug vices came from Omar so I can try some carving projects.

Now, all I need is some time. Oh, and for the painter to get to work.

Cheers