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@Brommers
Thanks for the comments, chaps. Looking forward to seeing the fruits of the Hetchins' sale, Jingle.
Happily, I've made some progress on the Hetchins build - just as well, as I'm due to be using it for the Pendle Witches this weekend. First up, wheels. Due to an impulse purchase of a second pair of Campag Record hubs, the Hetchins has two sets of wheels:
Both use 32 hole Campag Record hubs which are laced to 27" polished Sun M18II rims. I don't know whether the bike originally had 27" rims, although I suspect not. However, I decided that in the spirit of retroness at least one of my bikes should have 27" rims. The 'strada blanca' wheelset has Pasela GT gumwall tyres (32mm) and uses DT Swiss Competition spokes (3 cross and brass nipples). The 'lightweight' wheelset has Gatorskins (not exactly period looking but then 27" tyre choices are rather limited), with Competition spokes on the rear and DT Revolutions on the front, both with silver alloy nipples and both 3 cross.
I started the build, as usual, by fitting the headset and fork. This took longer than expected as the threads on the fork were rather corroded and the headset top cap wouldn't thread onto it. So an excellent excuse to buy a new tool - a 1" fork-threading die - to chase the threads of the fork. With that done, and a bit of filing on the recess for the headset washer tab, I could fit the fork, rapidly followed by a NOS Cinelli XA stem and some old Cinelli Giro d'Italia bars. The bars when delivered had been covered by a strange red resin-like material, but once I'd scraped that off they polished up pretty well.
The Phil Woods bottom bracket was a bit of a faff to fit, but I got there eventually with the cranks (also Super Record) equally spaced to within 0.5mm. The chainline seems spot on too, which is nice.
The saddle and seatpost are fitted, although I'm concerned that the seatpost (a Super Record Gen 2) is too small. It stays in place, but it's necessary to tighten up the seatclamp bolt rather tighter than I'd like, and I suspect that I'll end up having to get a 27mm seatpost - I've tried a spare 27.2mm one and it's too big. I've got a seatpost gauge on order, so I'll use that to check what it really ought to be.
I've also fitted the shifters, front derailleur and rear derailleur (all Super Record). I've also made a start on the brakes, fitting the front calipers (Record with a Campag drop bolt). The drop bolt didn't have a long enough bolt to go all the way through the fork, so I drilled out the hole in the rear of the fork to 8mm and used a recessed nut instead. Next up I suppose it's finishing off the brakes, fitting the cables, and adding a chain and some bar tape.
Oh, and an evening with some cone spanners, ball bearings and grease replacing the bearings on both sets of wheels and the pedals.
Anyway, here's some pics of the current position, with the strada blanca wheels and tyres fitted: