Well, its done. I went out yesterday and bought the new frameset.
Look 595 origin in team colors.
It was between this, the Scott Addict, Specialized sl2, and Cervelo R3sl.
The Addict was out because I could not get their integrated bottom bracket to work with my Sram cranks. Only Shimano will work. They do not yet have spacers that will make other cranks compatible, as with the BB30 models. So that one is out. The non-integrated bottom bracket models seemed to flimsy in the bottom bracket for my taste. In fact, it seemed comparable to my Ridley Damocles.
I could just not find any good deals on the Cervelos. I'd have to pay import costs, etc., and the bike just doesn't have that chemistry with me to make me really fight for it.
The Specialized ... well ... I almost pulled the trigger on this one. It is a really stiff, comfortable, and light bike. The geometry is good for me (it is, in many ways, isomorphic with but a little more aggressive than the Look). And it does look good. But, what can I say, its just NO LOOK.
The Look, however, is a completely, perfectly beautiful bike. It has everything I want -- good torsional and even better bottom bracket stiffness, just enough for all-around racing, good ride quality, relatively lite, and tough, with a company that has a reputation (at least with the shop I am buying it through) for being very generous with warranty issues.
The frame should come in on Thursday. And it should be built Friday. I'll post picks over the weekend.
3 days and counting ... (now I know how Pcad felt waiting for his cervo).
Until then, join me in discussing how awesome this bike is!
Or how I made a huge mistake not getting one of the other three models that were on my shortlist.