Well, it's probably literally the second to last reasonable riding day of the year in WI, so I went ahead and pulled the stem, bars, brakes, saddle, and wheels from my daily beater and threw it on the Ellis-Briggs just so I could get a ride in and some basis for my dreams while I'm building her up.
Then I crashed it! Thank god all I hurt was a Dia-Compe NGC400 brake caliper. The frame is totally fine. I guess I'll need to make sure I don't skimp on tires when I build it, because it feels so good in the turns that I went too fast and out-leaned the tires I have on the daily beater wheels. I hit some dirty pavement, the front tire started to slide out, I leaned upright into it and managed to at least wipe out on the grass on the outside of the turn rather than the pavement. This really is a nice riding frame. And it's Just my size. Fits like a glove! I'm ultra psyched to get some nice wheels and tires on it now!
Originally Posted by
big chainring
Its a beautiful frame. I hope in the future that you might consider a tasteful european build. The Shimano 600 components are good but that frame deserves some quality vintage european components. I could see a full Campy Nouvo Record group on there, or a TA crank. And tubular tires would really make it ride nice.
I actually wouldn't be opposed to some nice euro stuff at all. I'd even be a fan as long as it performed as nicely as the Shimano stuff I've got and was indexed. I have a feeling I'm not going to find any nice indexed euro shifters, derailleurs and crank-set in great condition all for $50, though. That's the only reason I ended up with the Shimano stuff. I'm not enough of a bike snob to worry about putting the Shimano on the frame.
Thanks for the tip on the brakes, jet sanchEz. Someone on the local CL has a set of tektro dual pivots with cane creek levers for $40. I figure I can probably resell the levers and get $20 of that back. If not, though, I might have to get those Centaurs.