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Actually, for a frame with a horizontal top tube, like these two, seat tube length is also important.

Grass track is a bit of a niche area. Most people that ride it use somewhat old fashioned steel track frames as short wheelbases and tight clearances are not what you need. However, any track bike will do as long as you have sufficient clearances for the knobbly tubulars needed. These tyres are no good for either road or wooden track riding, they are too soft and will wear very quickly so you'll need an extra set of wheels to ride grass track.

A higher rate of travelling expenses than that paid for car driving or public transport.

Highest mountain in Holland is 300m, just outside Valkenberg in southern Holland.

You can get 3/32nd fixed cogs, you can also use a 1/8th chain and sprocket with a 3/32nd chainset.

Path racer may have been fixed or single speed freewheel. I had one once, I sold it 'cos I thought it was shit but I was young and stupid back then.

I would put it at mid 90's. I have a Colnago from that time which is similarly equipped.

No

Very nice. Yes, you must ride it and keep it as original as possible.

I remember building my first proper road bike in 1975. Fitting the bottom bracket required packing each of the bearing cups with grease then placing the bearings carefully in their races and installing the cups and axle taking care not to displace any of the bearings. You then had to adjust the cups (remember the 'fixed' and 'adjustable' cups?) to get the right amount of play in the bearings. You also had to be prepared to strip down the whole thing a couple of times a year, clean out the grease with paraffin, then re-build from scratch if you wanted it to last. When sealed bearings arrived it was a revelation. No more faffing about with paraffin, grease and picking up loose ball bearings off the floor. Sorry, but from experience, I have to disagree with you. Even cheapest £10 Shimano sealed BB will be better: easier to fit, doesn't need adjusting or regular maintenance and easily replaced when the time comes.

A compact chainset allows you to fit smaller chainrings on a road double chainset, typically 50/34 compared to standard road doubles that were traditionally 52/42 but these days 53/39. Otherwise you'd need a triple or something like the old TA Cyclotouriste chainset.

So tell us more about this frame of yours. Maybe post a picture. From what you say, you must definitely ride it.

Hi again, glad to help.

Firstly, I wasn't really suggesting you change everything, just if you did, those are some of the problems you might face. Anyway,

There is no such thing as an "indexed" rear mech. The indexing is in the shifter. The rear mech simply moves in response to the amount of cable pull exerted by the shifter. Indexing means that the cable will get pulled a set distance for every click of the shifter. Thus, an inexpensive new rear mech will do.

Ok, back to chainsets. Replacing the chainrings is possible but could work out more expensive then a new chainset. You have to work out what the BCD (bolt circle diameter) is on your existing chainset. Sheldon Brown's website give a list of possible sizes and also, how to measure it. TA probably make the biggest range of replacement chain rings. There is a big list on their website.

However, you may find something like this a better bet:
http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/driveline-compact-double-chainset---square-taper-175mm-5034t-1909-p.asp
Inexpensive and includes a BB

BTW, I don't know what your budget is but you can get a perfectly serviceable aluminium road frame for about £200.

You have hit the nail on the head, so to speak. Most head badges were not made to be removed. But you could remove the fork then carefully drill out the rivets.

Rob, I understand what you're going through :-) I started cycling in the mid 70s. I couldn't afford Campag at the time but Shimano had just brought out their Dura Ace range which was quite good but much cheaper. My bike was Dura Ace throughout except for Campag hubs, pedals and headset. And every part you bought then was compatible with everything you already had.

Unlike you, I never stopped cycling so I have evolved along with the bikes. Anyway, to deal with your questions:

Shimano are the brand leaders as their parts are on the majority of off the shelf bikes. Their top of the range is as good as Campag and just as expensive. Sometimes more so. Their bottom of the range stuff is pretty good and reliable. Shimano, are responsible for the current practice to redesign the range and every year and make sure it isn't compatible with the old stuff. Unfortunately, Campag have followed suit.

Your 1980 frame will have incompatibility issues with modern parts in the following areas:

1. Headset. Fortunately, you can still buy 1" threaded headsets
   
2. Brakes. Modern frames use short recessed brake bolts whereas the old frames use longer bolts with those curved washers. You can still buy these washers, but longer brake bolts may be hard to get.
   
3. Rear dropout width is 126mm for 5/6 speed hubs. These use screw on freewheels rather than modern freehubs with cassettes. As long as your hubs are fine, you still get new freewheels.
   
4. Gears. If you are happy to stick with down tube friction shifters then you will have fewer problems. Almost any rear dérailleur will work as the amount of travel with each gear is controlled by you. Shimano introduced 6 speed downtube indexed shifters in the mid 80s. I have no idea if they are still available. Integrated brake/shifters came out later in 7,8,9,10 and 11 speed versions and you'd need the appropriate cassette, chain and mech for each version. And your frame re-spaced if you wanted to use them.
   
5. The bottom bracket is probably the only bit that hasn't changed much (for steel frames, anyway). A modern sealed bearing square taper BB will fit your frame just fine. Shimano do them from about £10. I've bought a nice Tifosi one on eBay for £20. As I said above, any square taper chainset will do, you don't have to spend heaps of money. I have never found any discernible difference between chainsets labelled 8, 9 or 10 speed. I suspect it is just marketing.
   
   

You will have to ask yourself a serious question. Is all this worth it, or should just go out and buy a new bike?

Any modern square taper chain set will fit. The difference between Campy and JIS are so small that they can be safely ignored. However,

A BB from that time probably has loose ball bearings. Whilst state of the art for that time, a cheap modern sealed bearing square taper BB is probably better.

I've got a load of old components from the 70s and 80s and although they were top of the range at the time, modern stuff is so much better and cheaper so unless you are looking to build a period bike, I would keep them as collectors items.

Why only the back half doing the pedalling? The front half gets a free ride.

Each of the stretches of pavé is numbered, counting down. However, the evil bastards that designed the course decided that after you eventually get to stretch number one and think it is all over, they stick on an extra couple of stretches, just to tease you.

I know this to be true as I rode the course in 2008.

Also, there is a bar across the road from the Roubaix velodrome finish and their beer is the best you'll ever taste after slogging over 100km of pavé strewn roads.

Heat before trying the big lever.

Yes.

In the 70s, Campag didn't do as many ranges as they do now. There was super record, record and gran sport.

Ciocc were known as the poor man's Colnago in the 70's. A trifle unfair as they were just as good, although cheaper.

Santini is Italian and they have a strange sizing scheme that starts with child sizes labelled XS, S, M and continues with adult sizes, L, XL, XXL, XXXL. so what would be a medium adult in normal sizes is usually a XL in Santini.

I made my own out of aluminium. I'll try and post a picture if I can work out how to do it.

Last I heard, he was living near Bangor in North Wales. He must be in his 70s or 80s by now.

No.
Yes.
But Shimano is a no-no.

It's possible that the thread on the cone is worn, so not expanding the stem onto the fork tube.

Firstly, I may be wrong but that's not a track frame.

If its a steel frame then you can just pull the dropouts apart to fit the wheel in, though about 5mm either side is the most you'll manage easily. Steel frames can also be "cold set" to widen the dropout distance. This means bending the stays out wards in a jig to maintain alignment. Frame builders/repairers do this. You generally can't do it on an aluminium, titanium or carbon frame.

The hub in the upper photos looks like you can remove the spacer from the axle to get a narrower spacing. I've no idea what that is on the end of the axle in the lower photograph. Something from a mountain bike hub perhaps? Clearly that's too big and unlikely to be made to fit.

Both are road hubs with cassettes, so are you going single speed? Getting a new hub is possible but I suspect that the cost of the hub and rebuilding of the wheel is not going to be worth it compared to the cost of a new rear wheel, which should have threads for a single sprocket freewheel and/or fixed.