Today I cut short my morning ride when the ancient Stronglight 113mm crank spindle began shedding bits of itself into my bottom bracket bearings. One minute I was gliding along, smooth as silk on my nice new 28mm Paselas; the next there was suddenly a noticeable click that only got worse. I thought at first it was a damaged saddle rail, then I stopped and felt over all the frame tubes because I was convinced I had cracked the 43-year-old Gitane somehow.

Nope. I remembered the spindle had some worn spots on it when I installed it, and I suspect that when I pull everything out I'll find obnoxious stray bits of steel flopping around in the grease. Ugh.

Options are (1) buy another vintage 113 spindle, clean up the cups and install with fresh bearings and grease, (2) pull the ancient Stronglight cups and use my fancy Phil Wood French-thread mounting rings to install a new or used Phil 113 or Shimano un72 cartridge unit, or (3) cough up the bread for a new Velo-Orange French thread unit. Decisions, decisions ...