One quick wipe after getting it home, plus a tweak of the saddle height and it looked like this:
Looked ok, but was still a bit dusty and in need of a spot of TLC in places.
New boots (Veloflex Master 25c), removal of some unnecessary bits & bobs and changing the original cork tape (yes, the stuff it originally came with out of the shop!), plus a spot of extra cleaning resulted in this:
Getting there, but on a frame that was already at least one size too big for me, that 140mm stem had to go. I switched it out for a 100mm Deda (which was all I could get my hands on quickly) and rode it a few times. For old aluminium, it's a damn smooth bike; and it rolls *so* sweetly.
By this time I had also realised that the Shimano 600 Tricolor kit on it is all *totally* original and *totally* immaculate; as is the rest of the bike (bar two or three scratches, none of which are serious). It's basically a collectors item, for those who are into collecting classic bikes. Even the apparently 'mismatched' rims have turned out to be a conscious decision to run a deeper rim on the rear.
I've contemplated selling it because I wasn't happy using as the commuter it was originally supposed to be given that it is basically totally original, but having ridden it I'm now really reluctant to give it up - and it turns out the secure bike parking at work really is quite safe, which makes me much more comfortbale with that prospect.
I changed the levers yesterday to modern 'Claris' 8-speed levers in an attempt to tidy up the bars (the 600 levers are immaculate and I kind of want to preserve them for some reason; but they're also hideously uncomfortable and the cable coming out of the side of the lever drives me bonkers), so it now looks like this:
Next up is a different stem (that Deda is butt-ugly!), a set of Cinelli Giro d'Italia bars (which have a shorter reach than the Criteriums), a new saddle (a blue Rolls re-issue is the current firm favourite) and a new seatpost (due to trying to keep it vaguely 'period correct', the only 31.6mm option that gets close is a PMP Ti) - the latter of which is mainly because the older style saddles seem to need layback posts to get the saddle where I need it to be.
I've got it advertised for sale locally because it's really too big, but I'm going to struggle to actually let it go because it makes me smile so much!
