Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 9,797
Likes: 1,764
From: Northern California
Bikes: Cheltenham-Pedersen racer, Boulder F/S Paris-Roubaix, Varsity racer, '52 Christophe, '62 Continental, '92 Merckx, '75 Limongi, '76 Presto, '72 Gitane SC, '71 Schwinn SS, etc.
I've got bikes with 27" steel rims that look and work great with the right brake pads, which are old OEM ones.
It rains very little here, but I have experienced the dramatic wet-braking power loss, which is scary!
Sometimes it's hard to find steel rims with smooth, even brake tracks on both rims, and I don't much like the ones with embossed brake tracks.
Araya and Ukai made 27" steel rims that seemed the best to me.
Cotter cranks are good and easy to service if one has a cotter press and uses the original, hardened cotters. Installed cotters must be fitted tight, with alternating nut torqueing and light hammer taps until the nut resists further tightening.
In the C&V world, I have almost no tolerance for older chains or for non-clipless pedals.
Older chains are noisy, shift poorly and even worse with sparse lubrication.
Vintage road pedals work poorly with any kind of shoe that fits my feet, and vintage shoes usually fall apart.