I almost wish now that I’d tried to salvage the Mirage wheels. I could have wire-wheeled them inside and out, trued as well as possible, and maybe put on new old tires (tubes seemed fine). But I guess it would not have been worth the risk of wheel failure on a ride.
So, I have to source new wheels and tires. I saw a CL ad with three sets of too-nice looking wheels for $20. The ad was 14 days old and the ad threatened to recycle them the day before I even saw the ad. Called anyway, the seller hadn’t tossed them yet, so I grabbed them. They are wider hubs than vintage, and need tires, and would look very odd, but I could force them to fit. Afterward, I got to thinking (again) I really should go with something more period. I could use last year’s Green Super Course mis-matched wheels and tires, and pro-rate the expense (maybe 1/3 of the $45 spent on the bike), or find vintage-er wheels. But I think it would be silly to reuse the same bargain parts on different bikes, and I have several spare sets of vintage wheels in the shed, so I think it would be silly to buy more instead of using what I already have. How do I establish the value added to the Mirage if I install wheels from my shed?
Luckily, I found a FB market posting for a local set of 27” wheels and tires that remain unsold for several weeks, $30. Since I could probably get the vintage wheels for $25 including tires, and I actually did get some wheels for $20 (in fact, free!, after I told the seller why I wanted them), I’m going with $30 added for some spare wheels from my shed, including whatever used tires and freewheel I throw on.