I put the 26" alloy wheels on today - wow what a difference in weight!
I don't have the dynamo wheel yet so I picked up a front wheel from
ebay for £2 as a stand in. The back wheel was fine as it was made to fit. The front was a little too wide and the axle was too thick to pass through the slot in the dropouts, but I filed the slot wider and with a bit of brute force sprung the fork apart enough to get the wheel in. Not looking forward to changing a p*ncture though
The front brake drops were fine but I had to file down the rear ones. Now the pads just clear the tyres but I'm still not 100% happy so I may look for longer drop brakes or more adjustable pads.
Sadly the crankset Chris sent didn't arrive so it's still got the original crankset on. The toe clips foul on the ground so it definitely needs shorter cranks. I'll probably go down the spindle replacement route.
And after all that, is it any better to ride? Hard to say until I'm confident with the brakes and have the right size cranks, but the signs are good so far. Apart from the weight reduction and hopefully improved braking, it's lowered the frame by about an inch which makes it much easier to mount. It's still got the original mudguards but once I replace those it should improve the toe overhang as well.
Pics tomorrow maybe - though it looks like a frankenbike with the big mudguards!