Well, I guess it's cold down there in hell these days... My wife and her side of the fam all pitched in some cash to get me a mountain bike for Christmas, something I've been thinking about doing but it's been an idea lacking funding for a while. And after looking at all the options out there for a solid, dependable mountain bike, I just keep coming back to Bikes Direct. When it comes to an MTB I just don't care as much about brand, etc. and just want a dependable platform with good, solid components. And for the price, it's tough to beat the Motobecanes. So it's looking like either the Fantom Comp DS or the Fantom Elite DS--haven't decided yet... The Elite DS has a substantially nicer fork and cooler paint job, though...

So while the whole resurrected brand name/inflated MSRP thing still bugs me, as does the website, I just don't care enough about the brand of my mountain bike to justify spending a ton more. Besides, I can stash away some of the money I saved for the Pinarello Prince Carbon I'll be buying as my end-of-residency gift to myself in 2009.