Originally Posted by
chaadster
Ed,
Yes, all of the make and model designations on the '12-- the 1st model year since the first gen bikes went out of production in the early '90s-- are outlined in gold, including the 'B' logo darts on the fork legs and seat tube.
I was playing with the idea of accenting those gold markings with gold bar tape, but I couldn't find any of the shiny Cinelli Treasure tape, and I really wanted to try the Lizard Skins anyway, so I went blue. I did buy some gold Deda, but it's not really polished gold looking, more of a brushed gold color, which I think would work ok, but the LizardSkin DSP is sweet, so I'm holding with that for now.
Yes, I have the 3.2mm LizardSkin DSP on my Civia Bryant plus gel inserts and that thing is unbelievably comfortable. Even my hybrid/cross bike, which is aluminum frame with chro-mo fork and 2.5mm LizardSkin DSP is reasonably plush in the majority of situations. I'm a huge fan of the stuff!
On the gold, I was actually considering a gold chain would match the gold accents nicely, something like a KMC X10SL-Ti, but my dealer told me to stick with the SRAM cartridge and the SRAM chain as supposedly they work better as a system than substituting in the Ultegra cassette and/or KMC X10SL chain. I figure I'll see how I like it as-is first, and if I want to later consider swapping cassette and/or chain if I desire more smoothness than, "stock."
-Ed