Sticks and Stones

Can hurt my bones but you...
Gee, I guess sticks and stones are sort of dangerous to carbon fibre too.
So why carbon fibre?
After I have been singing about the virtues of steel and tradition and all that good stuff?
Go ahead, make fun of me.
I can take it.
Sort of.
I mean you should have seen it coming:



Oh yeah, you, the reader, should have seen this one coming a mile away!
There were little subtle hints, little slips, suggestions.
I could have changed out my carbon levers for alloy, but noooooooo, I kept them woven beauties!
Light, strong, resistant to temperatures, let's face it, carbon fibre is here to stay!
Can you dig it?



That's right suckas, I'm all over the carbon goodness!
Actually, it came down the this: I wanted something different.
I wanted to play weight weenie.
Park Tools scale, here I come.
Titanium rules!
Rules my wallet I mean.
No really, I got to thinking about a steel frame and while I was excited, I wasn't excited.
I mean I already got a steel frame, two of em in fact, and while a custom lugged frame would be nice, I found that it just wasn't floating my boat.
So to speak.
It all came to me when I found myself looking at an aluminium frame, you know, just for fun, and I started to think that something different would be well, different.
Variety they say, is the spice of life.
Chili peppers ain't too bad either.
So anyways, I changed directions and found myself more excited about carbon than I was about lugged steel
Go figure.
Then there's some other mitigating factors.
More on that later.
Besides, it ain't over till it's over and I still got a week or so to hand wring and agonize over my options.
So go ahead and make fun and laugh.
While I'm making the most important decision ever!
A decision that could effect the entire free world as we know it!
Okay, not really.
About the free world part.
Anyways, I'll be laughing all the way to the...
Well, I'll be laughing.
Maybe.

This Better End Soon

Cause as much as I'm getting tired of thinking about it, I'll bet you, the readers, are getting tired of reading about it.
You know what I'm talking about.
Well, it will end soon.
I promise.
Sort of.
I mean it's getting down to the nitty gritty.
Besides my previously mentioned option, I have two(three) more.
Basically it comes down to this:



Painted and lugged or:



Monocoque and nekkid.
Okay, I said I wasn't going monocoqued, but hey, I lied.
There's also a couple of other things like integrated or regular seatposts, and external and internal cables, mostly small stuff.
Both frames are older models on close out, probably the only way I'd be able to afford them.
I'm actually sort of hoping one or the other gets sold so I'm only left with one choice.
I also haven't totally eliminated some carbon Celesteness, though I admit steel celeste has a greater appeal.
What?
Option three?
Who said anything about option three?
I did?
Ah, the secret third option does not yet have the Tup Seal of Approval(TSOA). In fact it's sort of a desperation option.
Actually it's not desperation at all for I can always go back and consider some lugged steel.
Speaking of options, the fact that there are so many of them is really driving me crazy.
I mean it's pretty much the only thing I've been thinking about these past few months and I'll really be glad when it's over.
Getting a new frame is a personal thing with many variables involved, many that I didn't think of when I first started.
My problem with all these choices is magnified when you throw in my obsessive nature and the way I tend to focus on and target things indiscriminately.
Lemme tell you, I've spent some sleepless nights and days sorting it all out.
Well, not so much the days.
Being sleepless I mean.
So anyways, I'm getting ready to pull the cork so to speak.
Just waiting on a few emails to come back, then more hang wringing up until the Final Decision(FD).
Seriously, the quicker this gets done, the better.