Thanks for the help, guys. Driveside dropout is now fixed. It was a pretty easy job.

I ended up using the handle of an adjustable wrench to lever the dropout and open it up. It’s almost dead on now, and the wheel slides in smooth as silk.

I haven't played with the screws yet. But it looks like they're both broken off short, and the springs are missing. My bet is that the screws were originally stuck, and the heads were completely covered by the crazy paint job, so the owner or LBS just busted them off.

I finally made a bit more headway on the AD tonight. Both wheels are now true and round. But the rear wheel is iffy. A few off the nipples were stripped out, to where I couldn’t fully tighten the spokes. So new spokes are required in the offseason, if I don’t totally retire the wheel altogether. Is it possible to swap the axles in the front and back wheels, so the better quality wheel is on the rear?

New Pasela PT’s arrived, along with new rim strips. Unfortunately, the rim strips were a but too narrow. So I ran a length of Gorilla Tale on the inside, and laid down the rim strips on top of the tape.

I took apart the headset and removed the fork. I cleaned everything good, re-greased and reassembled it all. Putting it all back together proved problematic, as I didn’t have a proper headset wrench. I ended up using my digital calipers as a wrench, as they were the only thing thin enough not to interfere with the lock nut. I really need to buy a good headset wrench.




I’ve also started patching up some of the larger scratches with nail polish. But the paint job is so far gone, I feel like I’m polishing a turd.

The Cinelli stem and handlebar are now mounted. I tried installing the Shimano 600 brake levers, but ran into a snag. The Cinelli stem is slightly oversized, and the clamps on the levers won’t quite fit onto the bars. I’m considering sanding down the bars a hair, so the lever clamps fit properly.

The steering tube on the fork says REYNOLDS 531 BUTTED 16/13. Does anyone know what 16/13 means?

The mysteries continue with this bike. I managed to get the brake levers mounted tonight, as well as the front brake caliper and original cable. But for some strange reason, even at their highest setting, the brake pads aren’t high enough to fully contact the front rim. What is going on? Is it possible that this bike was intended to be used with 700C wheels, and not the 27” wheels that came with the bike? Or are the Brake calipers designed for 700C?

That frame was definitely built for 700C wheels. I’m using 700C on mine with short reach brakes.

You can probably just squeeze the 130 wheel in without respacing the dropouts. That's what I'm doing.

And the Daimler build has taken an unexpected turn. I mounted some 700C wheels today from a Specialized Sirrus, as well as the cranks and chainrings. The Lepree wasn’t able to handle all 8 gears from the rear cassette, but 7 weren’t a problem. So not bad.

I took her out for her first spin and ............. it quickly became apparent that the frame was too small for me, and no amount of seat post adjusting and stem changing was going to change it. Too small. Uggghhhhhhhhhh...........

So I lowered the seat a bit, called my daughter outside, and had her take it out for a spin. The bike fit her perfectly. She took to it instantly, zipping around the neighborhood. The Austro Daimler is now officially hers. Her first vintage bike, and her first road bike as well. She’s very excited.

The only change she wanted was something other than downtube shifting. She didn’t like that at all. So I popped on some Suntour stem shifters, and I’m just waiting on some downtube cable stops to complete the change.

I lost a bike today, that I was really excited about riding. But I did gain a new road riding partner, and have another way of spending time with my daughter, so I’m calling it a good day.

Probably no better outcome than that for a bike that’s too small... Great that you can ride with your daughter now!

Very nice looking bike you got there