thanks agian Tom,
your rig looks like 700C,
Ill be building with steel for sure Lon at Nova Builder supply (great gents) has sent me the reccomended tubing Ill need.
Im going to Fillet braze. for geometry Im going to use the Cross check geometry and soften it up a good bit.
longer chainstay for sure a tad more rake in the fork, longer sloping top tube, a bit less seat tube angle, the only real strange thing will be my
head tube is going to need to be pretty darn long maybe 6-7 " or even a tad longer 
to get the bars up enough with My APE build.
cables are going to be all top run, ill follow the underside of the top tube then down the seat tube for fd and follow seat stay for RD.
again I toil on the wheel size.
Brakes are another issue, I was originaly wanting to use the new tektro ultra long reach side pulls But Lon at
Nova builder supply said with My weight cantis or Disk would be the only thing he'd use Esp in wet weather.
I guess cantis make more sence since I have 3 spare pairs to choose from and they work fine in winter for me.
26" is tempting as it will give a great ride and give me much more room for fenders carradice bag (hang space without a rear rack)
BUT GEEZ 26" seems so klunky for a sporty light tour, group ride bike ???
(Sigh) the Atlantis uses 26" wheel in the sizes I could ride (Sigh) what to do!!
thanks again.
BTW the stillwater NY tour de cure benifit raised almost $500K maybe more by now. over 1000 riders registered. we had a great day!!
I did the 50 mile ride as the gent I rode with was a ride official (he was in charge of all food) and he had to be back earlier. I also ran into a old High school buddy he was attemping the 100 mile ride.
out of 1000+ bikes I was the only one with fenders (HUH??) I got lots of funny looks esp from some roadies that I passed on climbs.
[/B]have a great day
"John"