thanks to those of you who have responded positively after carleton's rather rude and judgmental link. the reality is that even with all the mistakes and frustrations (there were a few), i'm more into biking than ever before! I didn't go looking for some vintage find. the bike showed up on the curb in my girlfriend's old neighborhood, so we grabbed it. i had doubts about its fixability, but the point was just to dive in and see what happened. i am in no position to spend hundreds of dollars on a new bike just to learn how to build it, and philosophically, i prefer to keep another usable machine out of the landfill. i posted the results here because i respect the opinions and insights of forum members. In the year i've been a member, it has felt like a cool biking community. i know that i often look to this forum for good ideas and inspiration and if someone out there saw this, perhaps they would be psyched up about trying it out too.