This bike from Aphelion Cycles remains a puzzle, but a really well made, incredibly fun puzzle that does just about everything I want it to. At this point, I have taken apart and reassembled/upgraded all parts except the frame, bars, stem, seat topper, and fork. The frame has also been inspected by my LBS and a local aerospace welder. Given the price points on Aphelion's website--around 3500 pounds for a Ti bike with DuraAce 9000 mechanical and Mavic Cosmic carbon wheel--I don't believe this and other of their bikes were made anywhere other than the Far East. If that is a neg on the bike above, so be it. The welds are beautiful, the carbon components well manufactured, and the ride is exactly what I was after. Slap on a DuraAce BB and some re-finished DuraAce road cranks compliments of Ebay, and I don't need another bike for a long, long time.
(Now that this is written, watch the BB welds fail and the carbon components catastrophically snap. See you all in the ER!)