sykerocker 

Addendum: After two days of short rides to work out the bugs, the Lenton hit the road for real today. 31 miles around Ashland, VA. Of course it rains part of the time (only happens when I bring out whatever of my antique bikes have the most fragile finish), but overall everything worked. I definitely have to start hunting for a bigger freewheel. Something that ends in 22 teeth, at least. For the terrain in my area this bike is slightly overgeared. I probably spent 95% of my ride today in the 46-20 combination, most likely 99% between that and the 46-18. When you've got low gear trucking you along nicely on the flats at 15mph and you discover there's a hill in front of you, life's not fun.

Having read lots of stuff alluding to the old derailleurs not being all worth that much, the performance of the Benelux's was a very pleasant surprise. The rear shifts very nicely and smoothly as long as (of course there's a catch) you're putting light pressure on the pedals. Which means a little bit of forethought regarding shifting. It is definitely NOT a derailleur where you try to slam a late shift while stomping on the pedals.

The front derailleur becomes a little more natural every time you use it. I figure it'll take about two more Sunday rides and I'll be completely comfortable with the idea of reaching down between my legs to swap chainwheels. As is, every time I tried using it, the mechanism worked quite well. No missed shifts. Of course, rear derailleur style foresight is expected here, too.

Given the more primitive technology, I find myself thinking about the setup a little differently than I do with the rest of the stable. It's not so much an 8-speed road bikes as: a. 8 single speed bikes all tossed onto one frame, or, b. a 46-20 single speed that has the option of seven other ratio combinations. Hopefully the reader can catch the difference in that statement. I find myself shifting a lot more on, say, my Falcon or UO-8 than I would on this bike. Conversely, on the Lenton I find myself using whatever gear I'm in to power my way through whatever situation I'm in.

If nothing else, it definitely give one an appreciation for the technological advance that came in between the Campagnolo Gran Sport and the all-alloy predecessor (can't remember the model name) to the Simplex Prestige.

Dovetube

I liked my Lenton Grand prix, my dad's, as much as I now like my crappy-station-wagon-top-cluster team Basso now. I rode it before my current first memory {late for 3d or 4th grade, clearing some noisy autumn leaves from cream celluloid front fender (mudguard) brace, stomach down just inside and wondering where the bike went? and it was light enough for that to be an instant, and then it lands on my back, I think I identified that deco all-steel pedal with the cap with an oil-hole.** I oiled the ports, and liked to wax it, and never got over the resentment of not being able to remove the cranks. The grey, white-head-tube had the alloy Weinmanns, and SA four-speed which I had no idea how to use until decades after it was gone. I couldn't afford to put any allen-bolt stuff on it except for GB stem, which is why I only have the steel lug-stem. I sold it to my best friend, along with my girlfriend; the plastic bar-tape lasted GT-EQ 8 years.

Sold trendy derailleur bike in less than a quarter y blue Continental but not before covering one exit on interstate. rripped off of Nashbar CE/Razesa raced in CT against equal talent w/one arm, wrested Schwinn from tortured papa, bla blah