Cool. Thanks for the feedback. I take it that you are not finding the alloy frame to be "harsh" or anything compared to steel. I used to have a steel cross bike and loved it and now I'm wishing I kept it. I have a regular caad and it's not harsh at all so I'm not expecting the X to be worse but I don't know that they are engineered the same. Of course, good tires have a pretty big impact as well.