No pix or nothing really special to say, but I just put together my first whole bike (well, not the wheels, but that will probly be soon) and boy am I happy. I'm often verbose for someone that nobody knows, so if you like 1 line posts, hit your back button.

Maiden voyage was approximately 1km of the nearest 100m of my alley - I'd have liked to have taken her on a real ride, but with no seatpost binder bolt, bars to be wrapped, chain tension to be dialed, etc.

Some impressions from a total noob - the only other fixed experience I had was testing a Fuji in the park behind Urbane Cyclist in TO for 20 minutes:

You can't coast! This seems elementary I suppose, but biking with a freewheel your whole life makes you think you can just hop on the bike, put one foot on the pedal, and find the other one at 9 o'clock, and you can't.

Pedaling backwards when there's resistance is really weird. After the first weird feeling, I was trying to get a feel for pedaling backwards in a circle, like I would forwards on my other bikes. My legs disagreed, and wanted to lock, got pushed forward, other leg locks then is pushed foward etc. Weirdly good.

How is it that the other pedal is coming up when I'm done pushing on the other one? Oh... cool!

Brake hoods are where my hands want to be. I like 'em. I feel like my hands and upper body were throwing a party with the theme of "Why have you always had your hands perpendicular to the direction of momentum?"

Frame sizing is ********. This is a 64cm frame with a 58.5 tt, which appears to be pretty standard across the board for this size, except for a few manufacturers on a few new(er) bikes. The height is right approximately (2" standover with 25 tires), but even with the relaxed seat tube of a touring frame and a 130mm drop stem, I'm going to have the saddle really high, the saddle all the way back, and be scrunched, if just a bit. I might have a longish torso for my height, but this seems ridiculous to me. Who makes 64cm frames with 63 cm top tubes, and then who sells them after they get a new one? Looks like a custom Marinoni or Golem is in my future. One more reason to love Canada I guess, if you're paying, which you are. Thank you!

If you planned your gearing when you were fat and out of shape in February (I used the rule of between 70 and 80 inches), and put your bike together a couple of days before June, but have been riding ss bikes with around the same gearing since Feb to get a feel for one gear, gear bigger.

Not fixed specific, but if you've just built up your first bike, especially if your idea of technical is measuring coffee before you grind it, tighten everything again, except your alloy chainring bolts, which will break if you tighten them again.

Next step is being late for work tomorrow so I can get a seat binder bolt. Soon I shall be with you, oh pink nightmare.