I have a spoke tensionmeter that I used to check the wheels after pulling it out of storage, wheels are in good shape like I said. This bike has been used already for hundreds of touring miles. My concern is ascending and descending on this bike. The original axles were solid, and so are the new ones. I've equipped the bike with Koolstop Salmon pads in the past, but it still does not have a tremendous amount of stopping power. This bike has a freewheel, not a cassette you are right on that. This wheel has less dishing and offset axle loading than a 6 or 7 speed wheel that many people toured on just fine, and surprisingly it was the front axle that went first. Still, the wheels vex me a bit.

The loading to the frame/fork is something that concerns me; has anyone experience fork failure with a drum brake like the SA? I've seen pictures of disc brake fork failure on modified stock forks that were never designed for that kind of stress. The torque arm on the SA hub does help load the fork up a bit higher to reduce leverage. I assume these considerations were made by the engineers at the factory. You don't see a lot of bikes equipped with fat drum brakes by manufacturers, seems to me they are more popular in the aftermarket.

What long-reach, nutted calipers can you suggest Houdini? I have only found Tektro making a set currently. I would prefer dual pivot calipers over single pivot.