Well, the Falcon is back together and I took it for a shakedown ride. Hey — nothing fell off!
My first problem was before leaving home; I’ve tried three different pairs of conventional shoes and could not get any of them into the toe clips and straps (I wish I had not thrown out my old Detto Article 7’s, even though a bit small now!) so riding was problematic. Thus I simply removed the pedals and screwed in a set of SPD clipless ones I had, and rode off. The owner is going to need to decide (a) he has shoes that will fit, (b) invest in clipless shoes and pedals, or (c) get a set of open MTB pedals and just ride in sneakers (I guess one could use the Campy pedals with no toe clips). Also not a fault of the bike, my by-eyeball estimate of seat positioning was off, for me at least, and I had a bit of seat pain and knee pain; I suspect raising, moving back, and tilting the seat a wee bit would have helped. But it’s not my bike.
My impression was smooth rolling, comfortable and stable; after getting off the Peugeot, it felt less lively but it took less effort to control — I really should start measuring frame angles, etc.. It certainly did not feel slow, but I have not installed bike computers on any of these projects so I cannot report average speeds. Once settled in, I’d consider it a ride-it-all-day bike. There was a disheartening moment with a little freewheel skip on the 5th cog, but I could not duplicate it, so I think I just wasn’t on that cog completely, as I could not duplicate it; after almost 50 years since I last used bar-end shifters, I quickly got the hang of it.
Time for another check of bolt tightness, and another ride, and done. Some do not care for my generous brake cable loops — I can give the owner the choice, I can bob the cables readily enough.
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Larry:1958 Drysdale, 1961 Gitane Gran Sport, 1974 Zeus track, 1988 Masi Gran Corsa, 1974 Falcon, 1980 Palo Alto, 1973 Raleigh Gran Sport, 1974 Legnano. Susan: 1976 Windsor Profesional.