IIRC, the Lotus is Ishiwata triple butted tubing, and a Tange Mangalloy fork. The headset is a nice Tange model. Did your's come with a 'Lotus' rubber top cover? If the races and cups are good, just re-ball them.
It's a decent unit.
If you got a pair of Sansin hubs plus Araya rims, the hubs are Sansin Sealed System. Also nice quality.
The rims I think are single-walled seamless. I had a Lotus trash bin bike that I stripped and recall such wheels. Too bad the bike wasn't close to my size, all it had was some rusty nicks and a twisted handlebar from a fall. I remember the group was Shimano Light Action and was SIS 6spd.
Lotuses are nice bikes, looking forward to pics of the completed build.
The headset has Tange Unique-X Japan on the smaller piece of rubber and Lotus Japan on the larger piece. It appears that there is a bearing missing in the first attached photo or is that the way it's supposed to be? Re-ball the headset - how do I get the bearings out that are in there now? I assume the LBS will have replacements? You have to grease them too, right. I'll search around here (BF) and see what I can find. Are the 'races' the chrome pieces that you see in the powdercoated pic? If so, they are 'ok', but need a little work or cleaning done to them.
The hubs are Sansin and Araya rims. I didn't see any seams on the front one as I cleaned it up the other night. Is there an easy way to clean the spokes that are closest to the hub or just forget about it? I've got something to work on today! Yay!!
Thanks for the help! wp.