Yeah, but I was a bit confuzzled, as this would be my first encounter with external bottom brackets. I wasn't sure just what you meant by spacers, and how they were used. Never realized they were part of the design of the whole external BB itself.
In any event, as much as it pains me, as hard as it is for me to resist, I've decided to hold off. It's a matter of want versus need, and as much as I might want a nice steel hardtail 29'er, I don't really need one. What I need is to pay off some credit cards, and ride my RM Blizzard a lot more.
Now whether I can actually live by this decision, I don't know.