Dmirty, I have pretty much the identical view of this. I also class spok es with cables, cable housings, brake pads, tires and tubes as places where I use new stuff. I do try to use reasonably classic looking stuff, no neon cable, bladed or black spokes or all black tires. And I us e presta tubes even if schraeder was original, using rim adapters when necessary. In these areas the new stuff is not only much easier to fin d, but clearly superior, unless one is talking about silk tubulars, and it is possible to find new stuff that doesn't detract from the classic app earance.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA
From: Dmitry Yaitskov <dima@rogers.com> Subject: Re[2]: [CR]A source of 15/17g (1.8/1.4mm) spokes? To: "M-gineering" <info@m-gineering.nl> Cc: "Classic Rendezvous" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Date: Thursday, September 18, 2008, 8:44 AM
Hi,
Thursday, September 18, 2008, 1:59:18 AM, M-gineering wrote:
> Dmitry Yaitskov wrote:
>> I'd rather build my wheel with butted stainless spokes that
>> plain-gauge plated. Maybe it's just me :)
> agreed SS spokes are much better, but so is a modern rim and where
> do you stop?
At the moment, I am going to stop at spokes, cables, brake blocks,
tires, inner tubes, air in those tubes, ball bearings probably... and
I could've forgotten something :) oh yes, I may indeed put Time ATAC
pedals (that's what I'm using, not SPDs) on that bike (but I am not
sure about that, and in any case I will keep the Chater-Leas). I will
not change the saddle, but while it is a Brooks, it does not look like
it could be 60 years old anyway. I will keep the rest and see how it
goes - if it turns out that I cannot ride it (or get no enjoyment out
of riding it), I will probably upgrade it till I do like the ride.
> Either restore a bike to something close to original, or say the hell
> with it and build it into a daily beater. In the latter case 14-15
> spokes will serve just as well, as will a proper rim, better tyres,
> spuds, a nice cyclecomputer, 600 coats of hand rubbed clear, ....
IMO there is a lot of space between "original" with proper period spokes, and "daily beater". I bought the Hetchins for looks, but I do not want it to be a wall decoration - if keeping it original prevents me from riding it (and enjoying the ride), I will sacrifice the originality. At least that's what my current thinking is :) In any case, coming back to spokes - I think spokes that look good and "proper" from 3 meters away are good enough for me. If I were building up a bike for a museum - I would approach this differently... but I'm starting to repeat myself, sorry :)
--
Cheers,
Dmitry Yaitskov,
Toronto, Canada.