And my wife can definitely attest to the fact that my appreciation of WWII-vintage firearms rivals my appreciation of bikes--my gunsafe is full of the former and the basement full of the latter...[/QUOTE]

I know the feeling. I think firearms peaked in their perfection in the early 1900's much as bikes did in the 70's. Appearance wise anyway. A colt .45 is like a downtube shifting 10 spd with toeclips. It might not have a mag safety, double stack magazine, plastic bits allover, or luminous sights, but like knwoing how to shift up and back a touch on old Campy bikes, learning to make it work is half the involvement. Now that I'm writing about it the parallels abound; 5 spd freewheels are like 7 rd mags, downtube shifters are single stage triggers that have to be carried in cond III, and sewups are like handloads. Huh. Interesting similarities.

Oh, and you don't like Bridgestones, do you?