the axe-wielder's philosophy

I had been occasionally pondering that a steel frame would be noticeably heavier than the aluminium predecessor, but after two weeks of riding the drainpipe-metal rack-bestrewn sparebike this feels like fairy whiskers in comparison. The longer stem will go; the longer top tube deals with the slightly short reach, whereas the extra stem just reduces the feeling of control. The rear brake is garbage, but that is to be expected of cantilevers; a replacement is on the way and the multiple-bolt-patched mudguard hack is almost designed for taking chunks out of to allow a mini-V to fit. The rear wheel needs a little bit of tweaking as it developed a shoogle after half a mile, but that was expected as I was trying to be careful with this one to not overtighten it and end up with over-stressed spokes. The front mech can access all three rings, but after a year of only having the middle one I'll probably drop the top and bottom again or switch to a double as I'm not sure I can be bothered with tweaking the mech position to stop it grating every few sprockets. Generally, though, it's very pleasant to have a proper bike back again, especially when the rear can accommodate a 28 and a full mudguard with room to spare. Gaining that ability was pretty much the whole point of the exercise.