So what started out as overdue routine maintenance (my CU101B had started squealling, reel over a year old and out of warranty) has, as usual with me, turned into more. First I bought a Chronarch 50 Mg spool and Yellow Rocket Fuel. The goal was to get a pitching reel that I would be satisfied with (the other two reels I tried for this are stories onto themselves). After cleaning and lubing the reel, gears, and the bearings I installed the new spool and gave it a spin. Wow! Then I went to the local tackle shop to pick-up brake weights and ended picking up a dartanium drag washer, drag grease, and a Calais Reel Handle. Yeah that's right, I dropped $50 plus on a reel handle. Just couldn't help myself, you see, one of the employees working the reel counter had his personal reel back there, a CU 200 or 201BSF with the Calais handle upgrade. That reel was very very smooth (handle uses bearings in the knobs). I compared it to a new "Stock" Curado SF and could definitely feel the difference. I asked him if he had done any other upgrades to his reel and he said no. So I broke down and bought one, besides, my handle had a little play in it and needed to get replaced. Now the downside, the gal that checked me out threw the drag washer in with some other lures and the washer was broken in half (I'll pay more attention to how they bag that stuff next time). The handle, I'm 90% sure, is for a right handed Calais even though I mentioned twice I needed the left handed handle (if you aren't familiar with this handle,they are contoured for the thumb and have some writing on the handle, therefore the right and left handed handles). So I'll have to wait until next weekend to see how the reel performs with the final(?) upgrades ( I'm eyeing some ABEC 5 bearing or ceramic bearing upgrades). In the meantime, on the way to work this morning I swung by the neighborhood lake to test the reel maintenance and spool upgrade and the results were just awesome. Very quiet on full casts and very good to pitch with.

One other observation, while at the tackle shop this weekend I checked out the new Chronarch 51 Mg. Its very nice but the observation was this, I opened up the side where the weights are adjusted and noticed, to my surprise, the spool shaft bearing had no metal shield. This bearing (and I'm assumming the other spool shaft and pinion support bearing) are factory oiled instead of being greased like the Curado's bearings.

In any case I appreciate having a place like this to ramble on as no-one else in my household wants to hear these ramblings (not that you do either). Now for my dilema, I have a new CU101B on the way. Can I leave it alone until the warranty is up or do I tinker with it from the get go and have two awesome pitching machines.

The CU101B comes with a dartanium drag washer stock. I don't know why you would change it to another one.

To install the Calais handle you'll need a few more parts. The handle lock plate and special nut for it also. As well as 2 screws to attatch the handle. After that is all done then you need to grind the handle shaft down to make enough clearance for the handle to sit flush. For the left handed handle that part number is BNT2199. Abec 5's out of the package are fine for what you are going to do with the reel too.

The unsheilded bearings that you saw on the 50Mg are ARB. They have no sheild on them to make cleaning and re-oiling easier. Just the spool upgrade itself is good enough for that reel and the ABEC 5 bearings. The handle is a nice touch too. So have fun and don't mess up your reel too much. Also once you grind the handle shaft down the warranty is void

Thanks for the info, the handle package didn't have a part # on it unlike the other Shimano parts I've purchased before so I will take the number with me when I go back in. I was surprised to hear that the Curado 100 uses the dartanium drag already as the Shimano literature I had didn't mention it and the drag part # was different than that of the dartanium. Could be they give it a different number because it was a different reel. I have thought about removing one shield from each of the spool shaft bearings to make it easier to clean and lube. It would also allow water to drain out easier if it somehow was able to get by the shields and displace the oil in the first place.

It has a different type of Dartanium washer called Dartanium II. Just as smooth and does everything that you need it to do.