Originally Posted by
Chris Pringle
A neat project with that kind of money would be a custom bike that would integrate various interchangeable parts and components. These parts and components would completely change the feel and purpose of the bike -- a "holistic" bike system, for lack of another word. It would incorporate:
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Some might prefer having two or three different bikes with that kind of money. That's fine! But for purposes of this hypothetical exercise, a single bike that can do a couple of things really well seems interesting to me.
I'm in the camp of "do any ride with what you've got" rather than the "specific tool for the job" approach. The bike I've got right now fits with my philosophy, yet incorporates much of the above (one bike to be as versatile as possilbe):
- track bike with S&S couplers, so I can race/train on the track or use it on the road just by changing the handlebar/stem/caliper brakes of the road configuration to the handlebar/stem of the track config.
- the summer fork (ENVE carbon) is used with the caliper brake setup.
- the winter fork (Wound Up) was built for use with a front disc brake, attached to the winter bar/stem, so I'm using a disc front/caliper rear. The front disc saves wear on the front rim on wet days with all sorts of grit on the road. I've worn out too many front rims riding in the dirty Pac NW winter. I've found it also stops better in the rain, even if it is a mechanical disc. I can't wait to try a hydraulic disk on the front!
Now, it occurred to me that I could broaden the scope of this bike just by going back to the builder and having them build a new back end, also with S&S couplers, that would be set up to fit into the existing couplers on the front of the bike. This way, I could use a rear section with vertical dropouts and derailleur tabs to turn this into a geared road bike. (Note that both front & rear derailleurs fit onto the back section.) But with a changeable back section, the possibilities expand dramatically.
The one thing I'd disagree with would be building with titanium. Ti has been known to break, especially when built in any environment that is anything less than 100% pristine. I'm not convinced of its superpowers. A steel frame that breaks in some primitive part of the world stands a much greater chance of being successfully repaired than one made of Ti. And you'd come nowhere near $10,000 to have all this built.
Luis