Winston had learned frame building with the Holdsworthy Group and his brother Mario was the paint shop supervisor until the Falcon group moved to Humberside in the late 1980s. Mario struck out on his own (and rescued me on a few occasions) while Winston worked for a highly revered South London frame builder. Having given an outline of the works needed along with selected photographs, Winston was happy to help. A rear disc mount was the main modification, the rear cantilever mounts removed for a cleaner aesthetic. I also wanted Winston to check the carrier mounts and repair anything else that looked a little suspect and/or threadbare. It was tempting to suggest extras such as pump pips and braze on front derailleur mounts, but this was almost adding stuff for the sake of doing so, increasing costs into the bargain.

Winston commented that he tends to remove cantilever bosses if they’re brazed on but leaves those which have been TIG welded, since the latter are trickier to smooth flat. While removing the cantilever bosses will put paid to any return to the humble yet mighty rim brake, cleaner aesthetic aside, it will crucially, allow use of sleeker, more effective mudguards such as the Mudhugger MK2. I was also toying with remove the canti posts from the Carbon Cycles fork, for similar reasons but decided against it.