I've been ordering parts from a variety of retailers and they've been trickling in.
Chainrings
A box arrived from Peter White Cycles containing the new chainrings and rear cluster.
The chainrings are by Specialites T.A., a French company. They are of high quality, but sadly the company's prettiest products are not imported. I would have loved to order their red-anodized rings!
I've opted for a slightly easier set of gears. The old front rings were 52-42-26. This set is 48-38-24, roughly a 10% reduction in top speed, which is to say, in effort to maintain a given speed.
Rear Cluster
Here's the rear cluster, a standard Shimano 8-speed. It has cogs from 11 to 30, just as before.
The rear wheel will be completely rebuilt to install the electric motor. The motor replaces the hub; it's about 8-inches in diameter so the spokes become half the current length. However, I've verified that this cluster will fit on the new hub.
Brakes
After some debate with myself, I decided to replace the brakes. Even though they are perfectly functional (as I mentioned earlier), they just aren't shiiiny enough to match the polished frame. It took a while but I found that I could get compatible replacements made by Tektro. No standard online retailers carried the long-reach model that I needed, but I found them with an eBay retailer. Shiny they definitely are:
This model has a unique quick-release that is supposed to open wider than normal. That should solve a problem I've always had with this bike: that the rear brake, when the cable is properly adjusted, just won't open wide enough to let the tire out, without yanking to remove or shoving it hard to force it in.
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