Aah, but you have to be careful where and when you play...
I rode my ever-so-comfy (and ever-so-sturdy) 1975 Falcon Route (2 race-level models up from the famous Black Diamond tourer) on the Camb"rain" 600 in 2009. Alas, it poured for 30 out of 36 hours, and the Flying Falcon became the Flailing Falcon after its bottom bracket threads succumbed to excess corrosion, and couldn't clasp onto a bb cartridge.
(I found this snag out 250k into the Borderline 600, somewhere near Otterburn. Overcame the drifting chainset problem by packing out the gap between left crank and bb set with a plastic wrapper from a flapjack, plus a few zip-ties. This "fix" got the event done, then had to be repeated when my attempt to Araldite the bb in place failed, 50km into the Humber 400.)
Since a new LEL/PBP machine was supposed to be in the off-ing (another story of problematic "enigmatic" frame suppliers - for a different thread) I took the decision to "retire" the Falcon - the first bike I'd bought, new, when I was 13 yrs old. It was merely 531 Plain Gauge and, in touring mode, had a shimmy to die for (or die on!)
I'll clean the frame up and mount it on the dining room wall, perhaps...
Can't throw it away though - that frame got me up Mont Ventoux and completed La Marmotte as well as 2 x SR series, a LE-JOG and a Camino de Santiago de Compostella.
So, it is sadly missed. Great machine for cruising long distances and dealing with AAAs.
You can have the Falcon BB shell reamed-out and sleeved for £80 at Argos Cycles and have her back on the road.
I'd thought about such, but the speed wobble and weight were an issue: the Enigma Etape turned out to be a dream ride (until it developed a cracked stay, last month - currently being repaired/strengthened under warranty) and the machine of choice. So, without the "flying Falcon", my current oldest fleet machines are:
1978(ish) Pete Matthews in 531SL - my 1st ever custom built road race frame. Runs 7sp. Has chromed stays so don't want to mess around with cold setting. It originally had a Nuovo Record rear mech until qeasyJet (or other carrier) somehow bent the outer parallelogram plate rendering it useless. But a happy end to this particular tale - a friend of a friend having to give up cycling (for age & poor health reasons) passed over a bag of Campag goodies, in which was a Nuovo Record mech! And 170mm Record cranks/ring from the 1970s. So, I feel an "eroica" project coming on - just need to dig out my SR levers, get those new hoods, and some exposed brake cably stuff again! A great bike for 200s. No muddies though - wouldn't dream of that on a road racer. It's a 24" and still fits perfectly - so I stopped growing at 18 and haven't started to shrink yet. But snag is that the seat-pin is corroded fast into the seat tube. Heat could free, it but the original sky-blue enamel is still in stunningly good nick...
1980s Brian Rourke in 753 - was given this (exchanged for a bottle of malt Speyside) in its original dayglo pink/yellow/blue finish. Used it for commuting then retired it for a while - had humungous toe overlap as it was an outright road machine - Rourkie 74deg head angle with near straight forks - I'm size 10 feet! But I could squeeze muddies onto it with 23/25mm tyres so was good for winter. It has now been re-painted at the makers, with corroded stays replaced and re-built to take 8-10sp cassettes. Fine for fast, wet 200s.
