I bought this Malvern Star Vogue a couple of weeks ago on ebay and the plan has been to make it a relatively light bike for my girlfriend. Im no psycho weightweenie but yeah I want to cut out as much weight as I can (afford to). The frame and forks are Tange 900 double butted and weighed around 3kgs according to my pretty dodgy household scale. I think thats an alright starting point. At the Deus Swapmeet last weekend I saw a Holdsworth Mixte frame made of Reynolds 531. It felt like it weighed about the same. So i think the Vogue is pretty light for a mixte. It has a sticker saying it was made in Japan, though Im not too sure how true that is, since a lot of low-end bikes were made in Taiwan and China.
Heres a before picture ripped off ebay, it really didnt look that bad when I picked it up though.

I pretty much decided that all the parts were junk, stripped the bike and gave it a good polish. The paint was in pretty good condition cept for a few scratches here and there and some spots where the paint had flaked off.


So after that I cleaned and repacked the headset bearings, and put in a new BB and Sugino GT cranks. I thought they looked better than the original ones, though not sure if there was much weight shed. Also serviced and polished the pedals. First time Ive ever done that. It was really easy, I have to admit to an irrational fear of taking pedals apart. Also threw on a Suntour VX rear derailleur, Suntour Power DT shifters, and a Suntour Spirt front derailleur (top pull/reverse swing). The DT shifters cleaned up the mess of cables that would have been at the front with the original stem shifters. I also put in a fluted alloy seatpost. I also found 2 polished alloy rims, one is laced to a 6 speed freewheel and Im waiting for spokes to lace the front hub, maybe radially? Dropped over a kilo by losing the original steel rims.
I also bought some centrepull brakes by Mafac at the Deus swapmeet for 10 bucks. Damn Japanese theme ruined. Im not sure why I bought them. The frame has both braze-ons for brake cables as well as holes in the frame for centrepull brakes. I dont know what to do with the braze-ons since im using the holes. I just think mixtes just arent right without centrepulls. I hope someone tells me they understand me, because Im not sure I do. Also does the rear caliper go on the top or the bottom of that brake bridge?




And thats about where Im up to. Its around the 10kg mark now. Im waiting for some Nitto Albatross bars to come in. Im thinking of using reverse levers on them just to be different. Id wrap them in white tape. And Im thinking of buying all white CST tyres and a white Cardiff leather saddle I found on ebay. Im worried because it doesnt have springs and with the upright bars it might be a rough ride. Im also tossing up whether to get fenders, Id be buying them from VeloOrange since I cant find any nice alloy ones in Australia so far, but even alloy ones will add a bit of weight.