First job was to clean the Mavic rims with Autosol metal polish and plenty of elbow -grease. Unfortunately the wheels had been stored in a garage for many years and the chrome, double-butted spokes had succumbed to the dreaded rust, but after using some fine wire-wool and metal polish, they didn't look too bad. The Campagnolo hubs run sweet and are as good as the day they came out of the box! All they needed was a quick clean.
Next job was to remove the original 700 x 20 Michelin tyres. Although the tread was in very good condition, indicating a low mileage, the side-wall was showing signs of perishing and probably wouldn't take to kindly to the Strada Bianchi roads of L'Eroica! The original Velox rim tape looked in good nick and left in position.
I have been checking on the Inter-web for suitable vintage looking tyres and came across the Michelin Dynamic Classic. Being a tight fisted cyclist they met with approval at costing only £7.99 a rim. One of the negative comments on the write ups; they weren't very puncture resistant. So I decided to fit puncture resistant tape inside the tyre and replace the original tissue-thin inner tubes with some fresh rubber.
The freewheel is the old fashioned screw on type rather than the modern cassette, with a staggering five sprockets! ....half as many as on the rear wheel of the Ribble.The Regina block has a range of a sprockets from 14 teeth to 26 teeth, which matched to the 42T/54T chainwheel gives a range of gears from 43" to 104"