It's ALIVE

Well it sort of feels that way.  The frame came back last week, modified by Paul Villiers of Villiers-Velo cycles, who undertook the work for me and it came out great.  First, I had him remove the old shifter lugs from the downtube and fill a small dent or two there with brass.  The shifter lugs that came on the frame looked like a clamp-on shifter set, but welded to the frame.  Paul installed discreet bosses for the downtube shifters, which will be home to Dura-Ace adjustable cable guides; cables from the bar cons will route through nicely.

Paul then added cantilever brake studs front and rear at the correct level for 650B wheels.  I sent along the Shimano BR-R550 brakes, which I think are so nice and simple, so that the fit would be sure for them.  The studs are great, smooth and nicely mounted on the frame, no big cludgy connections.  We had considered moving the pump pegs from the downtube to behind the seat tube, but the pegs themselves are quite interesting:  little cubes set on one point atop small stems, with another corner of the cube set to hold the pump.  For such a small detail, I really like them.  So we left them in place; good call Paul!

So here are some initial mock-up pictures:

 A Profile of the wheels, one crankset option (TA Pro Bis 5), a random seat and post.  

This TA crankset, with a criterium chainring set on it, is one option for the build.  The other is a Stronglight 49D, but that will also have TA rings on it as well. 

The downtube gear shifter bosses with Dura-Ace cable guides and adjusters. 

Tange Falcon alloy needle-bearing headset, bottom race.

Front cantilever bosses.  Nice clean, minimal attachment for the brakes.  Plenty strong, not making your eyes hurt.  Great job, Paul.

Maxi-Car Hubs, Super Champion rims, double-butted stainless spokes, just as God intended.

The top race and nut on the Tange headset.  It's really so elegant, the only headset I think rivals it is the radical, yet again elegant Stronglight Delta, which is very cool but not really right for this build.

The rear cantilever bosses.