These go to a Motobecane Grand Record I've been working on (not steadily) for the past month or so and the result after finishing the rear was so dramatic that I had to take some pictures. The front is still in as-found condition for contrast but I'll be getting around to that one in the next few days... sometime after I rebuild a freewheel. If anyone's curious about the Grand Record (I sure am) I'll be starting a quasi-identification thread about it soon since it's unlike any GR I've seen or can find information about.

Here's what I've been doing for the past couple of evenings: Disassembled and cleaned; hub and rim polished on my buffing wheels with brown (tripoli) and then green compound; original spokes polished; nipples cleaned with stainless brush; reassembled, and a merry time was had by all. Simple, huh?

Funny thing about reusing spokes - I don't do it often but I'll occasionally put in the effort when I want to keep something completely original. I've never had a single problem doing so and am not quite sure why everyone says not to. But then, I do keep them oriented by side and inner/outer so that the bends don't have much more chance of fatiguing than they've had for the past forty years. If they're in good shape to start with, tensioned properly, and not abused I'm reasonably confident that they'll last for another couple decades.