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@coffeekeyboard
Things I did:
my 1st time wheel building
To resolve the shifting I needed a modern freehub. 26" is quickly becoming a rare breed and to find one at 130mm spacing with 8-10sp compatibility is unlikely. I happened to have a used set of 5700 hubs taken down from a pair of tubs which used to be on my PD, so I thought what better time to learn wheel building. Keeping things retro (and cheap), I chose the silver box rim of kinlin ADHN (at just £18 each) with some alpina spokes. Plenty of tutorial online for 3x 36h build, and the process was surprisingly straightforward. True and dish using the frame itself and some zip ties, tension by hand feel. Took me a weekend and overall I find wheel building a calming and meditating activity.
new cockpit
Nitto Olympiade 115, Shimano 105 8 speed (1056 series) downtube shifters in a bar end housing with Tektro RL520 levers on a no name silver stem. I much prefer the mechanicsm in downtube / bar end shifters over the flat bar trigger shifters - the indexing seems to be more crisp. Canti hanger is to stay as I don't have the right sized wrench.
drive chain
Apex 10 crankset which I did not use on the Orbit. It's 1mm away from hitting the chainstays, so hopefully external BB cranks are as stiff as they claimed (I didn't understand the point of high Q on mtb until now). Gearing wise it has a 38t front and 13-26 rear. Finished with another vintage shimano 1056 RD.