Well, boys grow fast, and my son is going through a spurt. We were on a 50 mile ride last weekend, and it was clear that he is outgrowing everything. His bike shoes were hurting his toes and his beloved Peugeot "Leo" is definitely too small. If you know bike fit, you'll see the signs of too-small-a-bike. His heel is lower than the ball of his feet, and his head is well forward of the bars. Bigger bike shoes, that is easy enough, and done. But bigger bike - that takes more work. I built the wheels last Sunday. Started assembling the bike Monday night. Several trips to the bike shop later, we are almost done. His new bike is ridable - I've ridden it to the bike bar tonight, as a matter of fact - and we only have the bar tape and brake hoods to do. The frame is a 1974 Raleigh Gran Sport, which was Raleigh's upper-mid-range sport touring bike of the day. The International was the top-end sport tourer, the Competition was the equivalent race bike. The Gran Sport was made from Reynolds 531 double butted tubing, the best there was, at the Carlton works, where Raleigh's best models were built, save only the very tippy-top Team Professional and the Raleigh race team's Team Pros. So the frame is very nice. But the components were just adequate, even back then. Raleigh, like Peugeot, tended to save money on the boltable bits as they spec'd bikes to meet price points. The mid-1970s were an era of rampant global inflation and deep industrial turmoil in England, and Raleigh was struggling to stay afloat. So we weren't going to keep all the original components. But what just had to stay, lest we lose what makes a Gran Sport a Gran Sport, and what had to go, to make this a magic carpet ride? Gran Sport bikes, which were sometimes also called "Grand Sports", came with the distinctive GB randonneur handlebar, which is upswept on the tops and flared on the hooks. The randonneur bar is practically the signature look for the model, so it had to stay. 40 years ago, manufacturers didn't restyle their products every year at the whim of color consultants and focus groups. A successful model stayed the same for years, long enough to become a classic. So with the Gran Sport. The classic Gran Sport of the 1970s came with white handlebar tape, white brake hoods embossed "Carlton", and a black leather Brooks saddle. That is how my Gran Sport was, and how my son's will be. Today, white tape might look precious, even girly. Back in the day, white handlebar tape said "racer". The top racers rode gleaming white bar tape, which their mechanics replaced with fresh wrap every day. This was before everything turned menacing, thoughtless, paramilitary black. My Gran Sport had the standard Brooks sporty bike saddle, the black B17. My friend gave me a much cooler saddle, a Brooks Professional with copper rivets, the racer's saddle of yesteryear. It looks the same to most people, but to bicycle cognescenti, the copper rivets speak volumes. So the top of the bike - saddle, bars - will stay true to the traditional 1970s Gran Sport look. All the moving bits below, though, will be of a different era. For bike people, Campagnolo is magic. The company may be a fraction the size of the industry gorilla, Japan's Shimano. It may be conservative and slow to innovate. Its components may work no better than the equivalent Shimano group, and be barely lighter. And the "Campagnolo tax" may have you paying two or three times more, for the privilege of having Tullio Campagnolo's signature and "Made In Italy" on your bike components. But you want it anyway. You know you do. I never had a Campy-equipped bike as a kid. Hardly any kids do, unless their dads are made of money, which I'm not. But if you have patience, know your away around eBay and used bike parts, and can do your own work, you can ride Campagnolo without breaking the bank. This bike has a near-complete group - drivetrain, brakes, integrated brake lever-shifters, hubs - of late 1990s Campagnolo Veloce. Veloce is a midrange Campagnolo group, distinguished from the higher-end groups by a slightly less polished finish, slightly thicker forgings with fewer lightening holes, and no titanium bits. It looks great. So here are a few pictures of the bike in progress. The GB stem and bars. The front brakes, including my homemade drop bracket, necessary to adapt short-reach late 1990s racing sidepull brakes to a 1970s frame meant for long-reach touring centerpull brakes and larger diameter rims. Here we are, test fitting the integrated levers on the bars. I'll get the last things done tonight, and tomorrow I'll show the boy himself with his new bike, "Rollie".

Thanks, marthavila, I sometimes have to look at it through someone else's eyes to appreciate it. We bought our house 11 years ago and it was badly in need of renovation THEN. Well, time went by, we had 4 kids, dh went through 3 internet start-ups, and the renovations never got done. Lauraella, there were times when I begged dh to sell our house and move us into a 1980's tract house - anything that was functional , warm in the winter and cool in the summer (lack of AC has been one of our biggest issues; we are taking care of that with the renovation as well.) Now, we are finally doing the renovation, but living through it (we can't afford to rent) has proved to be the biggest challenge yet. The GC had to build us a temporary kitchen and a new bathroom in the basement because they tore off our kitchen and 1 1/2 baths during the gut. The only way to access the basement is to go out onto the framing and down a set of temporary stairs. For about a week, the only way down was to go out the front door, around the back of the house and down the outside cellar stairs. IT WILL ALL BE WORTH IT. That is my mantra.

powermuffin, thanks for the caveat on the garbage disposal drain size. I'm not sure that I would put in a disposal, since we're on a septic and therefore quite rarely use the one I have now, though it's ~30 years old and perhaps just gumming anything I put down it anyhow. Since there are drains installed in the sink, I haven't figured out how to measure the diameter--oh no, sounds like real life math! ;) Definitely something to know *before* buying a new disposal! mtnrdredux, I have to take faucet concerns seriously from someone who put a pot filler in a rock wall... ;) Yes, the deck and drain hole sizes and what faucet will fit is now gnawing at me (heh, likely because the design questions don't have a finite answer like this does). the ledge above and behind the current sink (all along the counter and wood-covered in the other rooms) is actually open to the half-basement below with windows for solar gain. It's a hypocaust system where the south-facing windows heat the air and then there are fans that pump the air under the north side of the house. We also use a fireplace insert but the propane furnace runs quite rarely, set at 60, and we're at 8200' with an -18 degree night last winter! Well, that was a loooong answer to your comment! :) I *do* love having the ledge to set hot pans especially, which is why I really want to put tile/something heatproof there. I put all the pizza toppings on the ledge while taking up the whole counter handling the dough--feels like a real pizzaria that way lol! ptamom, I have read good reviews of reglazing for bathtubs but bad reviews for kitchen sinks. This sink is in good enough condition that I won't have to worry about that. Concrete counters sounds like they'd provide that contemporary/industrial edge, but I have concerns about the maintenance required. Also, the counters (well, everything...) has to be DIY which is why I've focused on laminate and lately soapstone if other concerns can be met. thanks for coming back to this thread with your thoughts! cheers

Deedles, yes, I got the handle a while back. I remember posting on the Chambers board asking which one it was so I could get the right sized handle. I was pretty clueless. Luckily, Todd had a great diagram he posted for me that really cleared things up. I haven't gone into the storage in a while, but I think the latch on the storage cabinet needs to be repaired/replaced. There's so much that it's daunting. You were really lucky that the grease coating preserved your innards. Here's a few pictures of mine: Pretty rusty. The thermowell was pretty nasty, but not too bad after the gunk removal The oven bottom was pretty rough and pitted. I had it re-porcelained. Maybe you could ask DH, Is that the wire he's talking about in the back of the picture? The one that is drooping in the back? : ( This picture was taken the day we picked it up. The post it note is stuck on the one badly bent leg. The other 3 and skirt are all MIA. The oven rack is upside down. I only got the one, I think 2 is standard. On the upside, the sides of the oven cleaned up pretty nice. A couple of the burners were in a box and the wagon wheel pilot cover was missing. Fortunately I found it inside the carcass covered with gunk. I'm trying to not think too far ahead and try to focus on mini tasks. I do however have to get all the chrome stuff together to take it them to the shop. The turn around time is about 3 weeks. The last time I worked on her, I couldn't get all the screws out of the chrome top so it's still connected. I'm hoping to get over there tomorrow to soak the screws in WD40 to try to loosen them. Now that I'm committed, I want to try to get her home by Christmas or rather by Dec 19. Ambitious, I know. That's when my in laws come into town. They are not DIYers, they pay people. They are always saying, "aren't you done YET?" My MIL can't understand why I like older or vintage things. She's of the mindset that new and modern is best. To be perfectly honest, that's the reason I was so tempted to get the Bert.