Curious - how did it turn out? I am trying to determine what the purpose of this project would be, and it would be a period specific project. I might.....might replace the crank set and BB to be a little more sturdy.
To me, I would be buying this to be more a period piece than a daily bike.
I am not sure what you meant by Curious - how did it turn out? If talking about my two Torpado projects, the Professional is in the
test ridden and now collecting what I need to restore the bike stage. This is what it looks like "as found" and now...
The other Torpado is in the paint with a brush stage. I have painted a few bikes with a brush and found the task to be relatively easy, clean and certainly rewarding. This Peugeot PX10 with a brush...
And this entry level Torpado is showing off its first coat of smoke grey paint. The windows in the chrome head tube lugs and the head tube itself will be painted red. The fenders, due to poor chrome condition, will also sport a couple of coats of grey. Here is the entry level steed "as found", followed by "as is right now"...
I brushed on the first coat of grey two days ago...
Would I use my entry level Torpado, which is similar to the OP's Flying Dutchman, as a daily rider? Not a chance but I have much better primary (daily) rider options. In Canada, this is my rider...
and, in Jamaica, this old Bianchi and I share a few thousand kilometers each winter...
Anyway, would I use the Dutchman as a daily rider?
No, it would be cleaned up and hung up to be treated as "eye candy", and taken out now and again for the odd, sunny day ride. But only in the country, away from busy traffic and fools with cell phones (don't ask unless you want another long story), the Torpado would be just fine. However...
Thanks to the steel rims, which dramatically and negatively impact bike ride quality and stopping ability (brake function gets worse in wet weather with steel rims) I would not make it a daily rider. To that add that I believe down tube shifters to be dangerous, once again suggesting to me that the older steeds do not come up to par with today's traffic and safety demands (that is purely my opinion only and the same goes for rat trap pedals). And, it matters not what bike I choose to ride, I DO NOT ride with rat traps. SPD - period, even though they look so out of place...
Some bikes, even those not really the best to use in today's traffic world, once built up, demand to be ridden. This late fifties Rabeneick 120d, that I recently finished, is not a daily rider, in my mind. But it is will be ridden frequently next Summer. It also sports modern SPD pedals, bar end shifters and alloy rims...
