On to the 23". Sir Mike should have said "spoiler alert" hahaha. The 23" definitely got an OA bath. Every piece from the fenders to the fork to the bars and wheels. The front dynohub was taken apart with all the guts cleaned separately and the wheel went in the soup. The back hoop was stripped off the wheel and in it went, later to be laced with new spokes. The OA bath worked good but a few areas of the frame had additional derusting by applying an evaporust soaked papertowel sealed in plastic wrap (as described on the container).
One of the coolest things about this bike is the blackened chainwheel. It is so cool looking that I really want to run without the pie-plate on the chaincase just to show it off. I actually did for a while but the case squares up better with the pie plate in. With this bike I had a harder time getting the chain not to rub inside the chaincase but it is about 95% good. I noticed when I had the bikes apart that the chainwheel from the 21" was so straight that it didn't really have any wobble side to side as it went around. The black one from the 23" would have about an 1/8" to maybe 3/16" sway. Likely why it was harder to align well.
I also like the nameplate on the downtube. Tom was a local bicycling enthusiast. I never met him before he passed but his friend, the man who sold me the bike, said he would be happy with the rehab and cleanup of the bike. Thanks Tom for hanging onto this beautiful machine.
I installed a shifter that I had set aside from another project that I knew was working well. I cleaned and rebuilt the pedals and they are in pretty good shape. I like how the bike sits straight with the double kickstand so that will stay on in place of the original, which I think went onto the 21". The front dynohub puts out good voltage but again the lights don't work. I tested the rear light independently and that works, super cool, but I couldn't trouble shoot the problem. That project goes on. You will see that I had an old Brooks saddle in place that I think came on the bike. It was nice and soft but kinda beat up. I had a new B66 in my stock so that is what ended up on there. I also started out with the original bars and stem, which cleaned up surprisingly well, but switched to the taller stem and deeper swept bars that I had on the 21" for a bit. This bike fits me just right and is really fun to ride. I even found a nice old bell for it but haven't got any pics of that yet.
Here are some Images of the 23"
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