>>999757Yeah, them downtube friction shifting things are on my steel roadie. Front works fine, my LBS fixed it up for me, but the rear... There's some old Saiguan derailleur, and basically you have to have insane muscle memory to use it, or else chain will rub, grind and skip teeth. Not going to waste time trying to fit 7, 8, 9 etc speed freewheel, derailleur and brifters in there when I can just buy a new bike, it's not like I won't ride the last one, I'll keep both.
I have a few spare 700C tires laying around, one is an old Schwalbe slick, still in pristine condition though, little to no cracks, if tires on B'Twins are really some random shit then I have a fine replacement.
I've heard stories of sweat rust on bikes, Bikemanforu has a video on his channel dedicated to the issue.
I like to ride my current bike in 52x14 since I'm physically fit, I kinda hoped the biggest cog in the front of the new one would also be 52. Oh well, it's not like I won't be able to change it in the future. Plus the smallest sprocket in the cassette is 12 teeth, may sorta make up for that.
I have strange aluminum-steel centerpull Weinmann brakes on my current bike, and while they definitely have very long calipers (probably some of the longest I've seen) it's still possible to tweak them and play around with the cable so that they stay at a position where they'll almost be touching the wheel, and you'll get insane grip from the pads, every time I use the rear brake I basically skid on this bike like if I was riding a fixie.
Thanks for the input, I'm definitely picking up a B'Twin Triban in a few months
Also pic: the fucking frankenbike itself
