I am not sure what happened with the rims. I bought 36 hole rims last year for my TSR when that was going to have drum brakes all around, and I bought an extra 2 rims (apparently 28 holes) in the same style for the APB. The TSR rims were "non-machined walled" (all painted with no smooth metal area for the brake blocks) which was fine because drums don't have brake blocks, while the ones for the APB were machined for v-brakes. I ordered them when the Pound was high, but the website didn't say that they had none in stock. Waiting and waiting and the banks collapsed dragging the Pound down with it. This effectively doubled the price, so no more (US sourced) Velocity rims (or underwear) for me!
I don't know why I thought the APB needed 28 hole rims. I mean on actually looking at it, it has a 36 hole hubs front and rear! Anyway, the TSR was deemed not compatible with my front drum brake/dynamo, so since the rim was worn, I used one of the 28 hole rims and matched it with a pure hub dynamo. Being a twit though I bought that in 36 hole and then had to buy another in one 28 hole. Bugger; another addition to my white elephant collection.
Anyway, before I recalled this rim confusion, I knew I wanted to get a 9-speed gear train. I had felt this meant Capreo as the safest bet for my 'small-wheel' APB and this was essentially confirmed on the Moulton mailing list. Of course it's not so simple as getting a 9-speed set of cogs, it turns out virtually everything else has to change as well. Dear God. So, here's my first order:
Note the brake levers for later...
Looking at the picture, I see I forgot something. Gear levers! Here we are then:
None of this is cheap. But at least I had the rims, except the Capreo is a 32-hole hub. To get matching rims, I would need to get a 36-hole version. Here's the frustration. Shimano's website says that it comes in 24, 32 and 36 hole, but the 36 hole version is not sold in Europe. I considered ordering from the US but then noticed that the 36 hole rim I had was 'non-machine walled' so not suitable for the v-brakes on the APB. Then I looked at the 28 hole rim for the front wheel and noticed that my APB had a 36 hole hub at the front so that wasn't compatible either. So I needed new rims anyway.
Well, what actually happened was I thought I would use the 28 hole Velocity rim at the front with a new front hub. So I just needed a 28 hole front hub. Can't be too hard to find one right...right? Cripes these are pretty rare it seems and quite pricey. I ended up ordering this Welsh exotica in 28 hole:
I ordered on Friday morning and have emailed them asking to change or exchange it to 32 holes. Why? Because I wanted matching rims. Looking again at the Velocity site, they made a 32 hole rear rim that would match my 28 hole front rim. But did anyone sell it with a machined wall for v-brake? I couldn't find it anywhere except on the Peter White site, but he doesn't do online orders so I looked at alternatives: Alex DA16 - can't find it on sale anywhere, Sun CR-18 - a bit plain jane and not in 32 hole. I saw a rim from Shürmann (who?), but there was just 1 retailer that I found. I have settled on getting some Rigida X-Plorer rims from Komponentix Germany. I will save the 28 hole Velocity for my TSR front wheel.
Assisted by Google, I have learnt that zoll mean inch and lock means hole. So I will order 2 "Rigida X-Plorer, 406 mm (20 Zoll), 32 Loch, schwarz". I've just ordered some, all in German and this is scary. I have to learn how to do an IBAN money transfer. I hope I can figure this out, why can't we all just
The last thing today will be handlebars. I haven't decided yet, but my intial choice is this or someting ergonomic like it:
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