I had the work done by Haulin' Colin. Steel is pretty versital stuff. Mostly I wanted to get the axle on the other side of the Panniers so that the front end wouldn't get light when it was fully loaded. Most people load front panniers to keep things in balance, but the super relaxed geometry & high trail number of 86mm (47mm rake fork was the best I could do) would've made steering unbearable. Thanks to the extended rear drop outs, the cg is just forward of the bottom bracket for both loaded/unloaded conditions. It rides much more consistantly across a broader range than otherwise.
The canti brakes were a response to marginal long reach brake performance. Since I was using 700c rims, I figured it was then or never. They also allow 47mm wide tires. Ideally suited for gravel riding.
There is also WoundUp disc forks & work done on the head tube to accommodate a 1 1/8 headset. For my wifes bike, I bought a VPH755 headset from Porkchop bmx & a Nashbar carbon fork for about $75 It saved about 3 pounds and got modern short reach dual pivot brakes. A huge upgrade well worth the cost. The locknut on the my Vph755 headset did need to be enlarged a schoche for the quill stem adapter. That was an easy task.
