L'Eroica Rat

Thanks for the advice on shoes JMCD, and glad you approve of the bike and thread; likewise Chris and Bicycle - glad you're enjoying it.

Didn't quite get as far as I'd hoped at the weekend, I reglued the tape back onto the tub with Copydex, proofed the sidewalls with seam sealant* and glued them onto the rims with period Clement adhesive.
(I'm such a vintage-slave I even use period tub glue).

Made a pigs-ear of the gluing (too much cement on the front rim & inadequate drying time) so I've been picking bits of glue off the kitchen table, worktops, sink, back door, tyre walls and rim ever since (not to mention my fingers, arms and even my tea cup), so the time set aside for gear adjustment & set-up was wasted on cleaning up after the front tyre balls-up.

• Old cotton tubs need to be waterproofed or they rot. A good layer of urethane sealant will also mitigate the effects of abrasion and help prevent the sidewall splitting (split walls are probably the reason sensible people don't use period tubs for L'Eroica) .
  In cyclocross circles the most commonly used sealant is Acquasure by McNett but since this is a budget experiment I decided to go for Outwell Seamguard (£2.80 at my local branch of Cotswold).