Originally Posted by Ged117

Thanks Nlerner and JaccoW. It was a few days of indecision. I'm not terribly concerned with the bike not having French wheels. I'd like to keep the Mafac brakes, which I understand wouldn't have the required longer reach were I to convert the bike to 650b. The velocity dyad 700c is not cheap, but I plan to keep this one for the long haul as my beat-around four-season commuter. I'm attached to that '53 FW alloy hub - I think it'll look really awesome laced to new wheels. 40h certainly is disappearing, which is a shame since so many of the old Sturmey hubs are 40h. There is an FC close-ratio four speed on eBay right now for a lotta money...