What year sputnik was that? I just picked up the 09 and I love it except a couple of things.
Did you have any problems pedal striking? I'm really not confident in cornering because my clips would scrape the floor and I just recently got my pedal caught when I was turning and I did an accidental nose pivot. A good chunk of cage and pedal are gone just from that.
Also, you said the rims were sub par, yet the hubs made up for it. I feel the opposite because mine came with loose ball hubs and they were so crunchy and stiff I could not even spin the axle with my hands, I serviced them myself and they are much better, but are no where near as smooth as the cheapest sealed bearings.