just to tidy things up a little - I tried a nuovo record bottom bracket, 115 length, in the test bike. The Record triple cranks were like, way, way out there. I had a 111 symmetric bottom bracket from the early 00s...I fitted that and everything works okeydokey. So - aluminum Record Triple, Serotta with an English bottom bracket shell, seat tube diameter is 35mm, front derailleur is a carbon Record QS from 2008 or so. Screws on the front derailleur are all of the way out, and I can consistently hit every gear. The current gearing of 26 front/25 rear allows me to use four rear cogs before the chain starts tapping on the bottom of the front derailleur.

This setup is contrary to most everything that I recently read on the web about this kind of setup.

Passa-no passa, indeed.