Hi Zorro: OK ... I see your reasoning. And I did look over your profile before your reply. I really did envy your collection.

As for the illusion: lenses ... optics, parallax, abberation blah blah is a huge opaque sort of science — for me anyway. IMHO, when considering mere cm's with photography done with mass market stuff, it is a wonder that so many of us do as well as we do on the net and in the forums.

I will be keeping the original paint. The bozo-drill-holes I'll fix up neatly. As for the the broken guide ... I'll do something that avoids heat.

As for the 650B thing: a bit off topic, but since you bring it up .... Yep, I encourage you on that score. Build one up. I've tried to think about getting rid of my altered Trek 930. But for flitting around down-town with a back pack full of shopping, I can't beat the thing. It's stable, accelerates fast and is geared right for the downtown chaos of a Japanese city. I use practice race clinchers and inflate them to the tits. I use clips and straps on Sylvan light pedals. I have cut down a flat bar to exactly shoulder width. So, it steers fast but not in a nervous way — very stable. And I can squeeze past everything in the curb space.

Cheers — strieb/Lorne