Shout out to
jreeves for the Elph camera with which I shot these photos - thanks! Finally, a camera that works as it should with no glitches, at a very nice price
Also thanks to
WGB for the derailleur set and
shnibop for the crankset. In a weird twist, the camera, front and rear derailleur set and the crankset all cost the same amount of money, although they came from three different Forum-ites
For now, the bike is in it's definitive form until the Sugino Mighty crankset arrives and is re-threaded. I'll then swap the Barellis over to that crank, mount it and give it a whirl. I'll leave the Campy BB in - I don't think that will matter one way or the other. I only did a quick 25 miles to determine that everything is functional (the brakes squeal a bit, so I need to sandpaper the blocks a little tonight to start the quieting process...), and it is. I can't really say it's any more/less fun now than in its previous guise. I know the controversial bit will be the 3-arm crankset, and okay, it doesn't really "go with" the bike, but why not? In use, it's plenty stiff enough - I came out of the saddle for a few jumps and the drivetrain went immediately to work, no flex in the crank, just power to the rear wheel. It felt very sprightly in the 42/15 combo, just sprinting away from a dead stop. I could leave this setup as it is and be perfectly happy.
But I am hoping to hear back from another forum member who got in touch with me about long- and medium-cage Cyclone derailleurs. I've been thinking down the road about expanding this bike's gearing. He has derailleurs and a few freewheels that might just fit the bill.
DD