Took the 1982 Sequoia, also just back from Battle Road Bikes (new seat post), for a shakedown ride on the Minuteman. Though I've had this bike since October of 2019, I've ridden it almost not at all due to exceptionally bad timing. I bought it from another iBOB member during a traumatic period involving a bike-bike collision that pretty well messed up my left hand, the death of a good friend (who happened to be my bike mechanic) from a long illness, and a round of international travel; after that, the COVID hit the fan, and the bike languished in the basement for two years, not quite rideable and not getting the very small amount of attention from me that would have rendered it so, lost in the backlog of bike tinkering projects.
I had bought it in part because of the frame, sport-touring geometry with standard gauge steel tubes and lugged construction, and partly for the build, which turned it into a speedy, light-weight road bike that nonetheless rolled on 35mm Compass Bon Jon Pass Extralights. This included elements that I perhaps never would have opted for on one of my own builds: brifters, drillium rings on the crank, a relatively aggressive drop between the saddle and the handlebars, 28-spoke wheels, and a general weight-saving approach to parts (e.g., aluminum nipples) that led to a 22lb bike. It also included things that I already did like, in some cases a great deal: center-pull brakes, those nice, supple Compass tires, and some attention to the frame from Jeremy Sycip. All that got ignored for 2 years, but today's ride reminded me of what I hoped the bike would be: speedy, agile, elegant. It appears it actually is those things. I'm going to make minimum changes for now, and enjoy riding it as it is.
Drillium? Who, me?
rod