The Two Bicycles of Varonha.

What about a polished stem?

Reposting on the new page:

Very good!

If, like me, you own a Specialized saddle that has SWAT (Saddle With Auxiliary Threads?) capabilities, then you may (or may not) know that there are several toys you can bolt to your saddle.
Here:

I considered buying the bracket that enables you to attach a light, reasonably priced at £6.50, but the proprietary light to fit the bracket is about £30, and I already have a half decent usb chargeable rear light, so to work.......
1 x 12mm dowel, preferably with a flat side (D shaped), cut to 70mm, with hole centres drilled at 60mm
2 x M5 20mm machine screws/bolts
1 x heat shrink, about 15mm diameter will do.

Place pre drilled dowel in heat shrink, shrink heat shrink with suitable heat source (or get a responsible adult to do it for you), pierce the holes, place screws/bolts through holes (flat side of dowel towards saddle), screw heat shrinked dowel to base of saddle.

Attach light.

Cheers. May need to lower front guard a smidge, think it may just be catching the under side of the brake caliper, gonna test ride tomorrow.

Ooh ta, new page threw me off, sorry. Yep, I have a set of the Ritchey bars in polished silver, so I'm looking for a suitable stem (90mm, 10°), then brake levers, so I have two setups available to me, depending on whether my mood is black or shiny.

Next things to order are a pair of mudflaps, RAW will do me fine, had them on the All City, actually the front one off the All City is mounted on the Varonha.

there's a pair of leather PDW mudflaps in classifieds atm (prob sold by the time i post this)

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/359356/#comment15786963

Ta, but leather flaps ain't my thing.

Mine neither tbh - leather doesn't exactly suggest itself as a suitable material to be perpetually damp.

Good work with the light bracket btw!

My thinking re flaps.
Ta, at the grand cost of 10p, for the heat shrink (had the other bits in the shed), it was a no brainer.

Neat little hack/bodge

Don't know why I didn't think of it much earlier.

I really like the idea of heat shrink+wood, great for all of of us who can't find our way around a cnc-machine/3d printer/welding etc.

I did consider 3d printed, but I had dowel and screws, so that made the decision far easier.

I had leather mudflaps when I had a Mercian. Over several years of London commuting, they were fine, didn't disintegrate, although I agree is counter intuitive. Sold the bike with them, I wonder how long the held / if they are still holding...
Like
But yes, they'd suit a more "period" build

RAW mudflaps arrived a week ago, fitted last weekend, give very good coverage. Placed a washer between front mudguard and fork crown mount, annoying rattle has now disappeared (was catching front brake caliper).
Excited for tomorrow, first proper outing on the Varonha, wind dependent (and also on how my riding partners back ache is fairing) looks like a 50ish mile cake n tea ride.

Most disappointing, excitement completely quashed by riding partners back trouble, and my less than 3 hours sleep. Still, on the bright side, bike is clean now and ready for a second attempt tomorrow.

Hope you manage to get out there and enjoy it!

I will at some point! Just commuting on it though has let me tweek it a bit, so when I do finally put some proper miles on it everything will be in the right place.

It happened! Yesterday was my first proper outing on the Varonha. Frosty start, up at 6:30, porridged and hot tasty bevaraged by 7:30, out the door for an 8 o'clock start.
We headed out towards Jodrell Bank, took in the sights of Tatton Park (very pleasant) to go and see the deer herd, swung back round towards home via the Trading Post at Goosetry for a cup of tea and slice of cake (homemade 3 ginger fire cake), all in, just over 40 miles.
Bike report: stunning! Everything I wanted it to be, it's comfortable, not overly weighty, gave me that feeling of it not being there ( I don't know what I mean either), no rattles from the mudguards (thanks to all those who bullied me into buying proper guards), tyres are now tubeless, and are rather delightful pillows of air.
It's been a while since I've ridden for more than 15mins commuting, no aches or discomfort at all (apart from tired legs), so it would seem everything is in the right place.
It was great to get out, hear the birds, especially the blackbird that followed me for the last 5 miles, which it turned out was my front hub squeaking (bloody Cheshire council and their love of covering absolutely everywhere in salt), so that'll need a quick clean and a regrease.
Maybe some less budget hubs and a new pair of rims as a birthday treat in a month's time (suggestions welcomed, but probably ignored).
Photos soon, by me (not photographer friend) and my new (to me) camera.

Delightful news! Eagerly anticipating more photos...

Quick question. How do I get to the bearings? Remove the grub screws, then what?

Just had a quick twat about with my camera, need some 'in the wild' pics, but that's for another time.