Commuting - Introduction to the commuter forum and progress on my new build

I've been commuting for about two years now and I've never been happy with my commuter bikes. It's only about 6 miles each way, so I shouldn't care so much about what I'm riding...but I do.

I ride year round but if there is steady rain or snow/ice on the roads I leave the bike at home and take the train.

I've ridden everything from older hybrids (90's Specialized Crossroads), old racing bikes (Cannondale R800), old sports tourers (Raleigh Super Course), new hybrids, various aluminum cyclocross bikes and currently I'm splitting my miles between a Reynolds 531 Trek 710 and my titanium Eddy Merckx.

I finally decided that I wanted to build up a proper commuter that I can also use for some light/medium (2-3 day) touring trips and also the D2R2 ride here in MA. Shoestring budget since I'm still in school full time so most of the stuff I scrounged from my parts bin, traded for, took from my Raleigh cross bike.
My criteria: steel frame, room for Pasela 32's + fenders, disc brakes.
My solution: 2009 Soma Double Cross DC.
- Shimano XT disc hubs to Mavic rims
- 8speed 12-34 Shimano Cassette
- Sugino triple road crankset
- Deore RD (will probably upgrade to XT)
- 105 FD (need an adapter to use 31.8 clamp on 28.6 frame)
- Campagnolo Record 10s shifters
- Moots seatpost (admittedly a little foolish for a commuter)
- Fizik Aliante saddle
- White bars and stem that I wish weren't white
- Avid BB7 road mechanical disc brakes*
- Cygolite 350 headlight*
- Topeak Super Tourist rear rack*

* Haven't picked these up / decided on these yet.

Here are some very mediocre cell phone shots to show progress. I'm hoping that by this time next week I will have some brakes (and chain, fd, cables, bar tape) and can ride it! The Tektro discs on there right now don't work with road levers at all...

http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww335/telepciaka/photo1-4.jpg
http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww335/telepciaka/photo2-4.jpg

Nice looking cats^H^H^H^Hbike. That indeed is a proper looking commuter for CA. Ship it to me!

That's gonna be a great commuter. Why not just put black tape on the bars and cover up the white?

It will be getting black bar tape but I usually try to match the color of the stem to the seatpost so I'm not digging the contrast.

Forgot to mention it will also be getting Velo Orange hammered aluminum fenders.

Update with complete(ish) build.

Still need to make some tweaks, sort out the brake cable routing but I've commuted on it twice so far this week and LOVE it.

http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww335/telepciaka/Soma%20Double%20Cross/100_1160.jpg

Looks good, even the cat likes it :)

Looks good, even the cat likes it :)

+1 Good choice for fenders. They look great! We've had no rain in CA this winter and I haven't fought with my SKS fenders and disc brakes yet. But then I just found the last baggy of parts this week.

Looking good. If you have to leave your bike unattended, I would swap the Moots seatpost for something less expensive. That would be an easy component for a thief to nab and they aren't cheap.

Gotta agree on the white stem ;), but it looks like a great steed otherwise!