Yeah, which is why when the two sets of specs came through, I pretty much put the V brake model aside and went straight for the disc brake model. Comparing the two, the disc brake model is upgraded, but when I found I'd be wanting to upgrade the wheels on that immediately, I started looking at what I'd want to upgrade along the line and all of a sudden, buying the lower spec model made more sense. They do have the same frame, there's no advantage there, only in the components. I did consider asking if they sold just the frame, which would be the cost effective way of good components on these frames (because you aren't paying for stuff you replace), but I've got no personal experience on which to base the buying decisions so having something I can ride straight off is good.

As for buying a better bent? Well, the few reports I've had on these suggest they're fairly well made (so again, the frame is safe and we're talking bits). To go for a known, good bent in this country, means going to the Bacchetta, which is a very good, well respected mount, and I've been quoted $3,000

I must confess that part of my thinking is that because second hand bents are so hard to find here, if I spend six months on this thing and the decide to flog it (maybe to buy that Bacchetta ), it'd sell easily and I'd probably get a fair whack of my money back. Often the best upgrade is to buy a new bike, but if I'm going to spend $3,000, I want to know what I'm getting into first.

It's a weird situation and I'm finding that I've had to re-evaluate a lot of my usual practices - not change them so much as look at them differently.

If only I were rich But then life wouldn't be anywhere near as much fun

Richard