The modified brakes seem to provide a little less friction as xenologer suggester, but nothing too dramatic, since I managed to stop on my test ride just fine - just flipping over the handlebars would need some extra help now. I know it's not the best idea that I'm up to, but hey, let's see how it turns out. And by the way I haven't seen any used 700c frames for a reasonable price around here. I must remind you that I don't live somewhere with an active bicycle culture.

However, as I was regreasing the hubs yesterday evening I came across an interesting thing. The back hub had 9 bearings on each side and everything seemed to be nice, but it looked like the front hub had one bearing missing on both sides as there was enough space for one more. Is this normal or should I be concerned? I've never seen anything like this before. I forgot to picture it, but you should get what I mean.
The old grease itself had hardened enough to form a gump at the bottom of the cone and everything had minimal wear compared to some of my previous wheels, so I guess these haven't been used much.