I'm planning on getting the frame custom painted sometime down the line, so I'm not too sure what colors I'd highlight. Also, colored housings are the worst. Black or white only.

Only cages I'd consider right now are King ti or mandible. I'm not a fan of the buttons on the elite cages

Fire hot. T-11s or R45?

Fire hot as well. How does it ride compared to the Ti bike?

They are pretty close to the R45s but these babies are actually Kashima ceramic hubs.

The dean doesn't even compare to this. This is way stiffer, and almost as comfortable. Whenever I got out of the saddle with the dean, it always felt a little bit squirrely and no stable under me. With this bike, everything is rock solid, and all my power seems to be put towards pushing me forward. Descending is way more confident on the Evo as well. The dean had lots of flex in the fork/HT area, so hard braking would lead to what felt like fork shudder, and made me slow down more into corners sooner. I can lean the evo waaaaaaaaaay over and I still feel planted into the ground.

If you can't tell, I really really like this bike. PR'd a local climb by 13 minutes the other day, and I think it was partially due to the bike.

:eek: A 13 minute improvement over you last best time? Had you ever even attempted a good time before? Otherwise, that must be some long climb!

Is it a High-Mod? I get a lot of crap for my Evo being a Wal-Mart bike (available at REI, lol) but can't imagine riding anything else than a cheap poverty-mod Evo.

I'm sure the PR is from new-bike fever or the gum-walls.

Hot, but it'd look better with a gold chain. Actually, it probably wouldn't, just giving you ****.

Go with the mandible. Carbon bikes deserve carbon cages and the mandible is the best one out there.

Re. Bold/Red, I had to go to less aggressive brake pads on one of my bikes because of this. Went from Kool Stop full salmon to dual-compound. Still stops on a dime but does not shudder as you described.

Of course that won't do you any good now so... http://forums.catholic.com/images/smilies/shrug.gif

I think Mandibles are fine but I have Dave-O cages and I've never lose a bottle on gravel and use a seat-tube cage in CX, never lost a bottle there either.

The first thing I thought when seeing this is that Batman rides it.

Except for the name which I don't like at all, the bike is a swell looking bike.

I do wear a lot of black.

What is your reasoning for having a tall stack of spacers with such an aggressive negative stem angle? Seems you would be much better off with a lower stack height and a -8 or -10 stem angle which in turn would match your top tube better as well. Your set up doesn't make sense to me.

I don't have any stack height that could be removed without changing out the bearing cover and cutting the steerer-- neither of which are things I want to do. A buddy changed out the pictured 25º 110mm stem for a 90mm, and gave me that one. I replaced the existing -10º 110mm with that one, and prefer the fit with the lowered bars... but by having it this way, I can always go back. I've only got 60mm of steerer tube above the top bearing, so I'd rather not cut it. And I'll take the look of the droopy stem over a periscope any day.

Fair enough! was just curious

Oh no, I actually agree that a stem in-line with the top tube would probably improve aesthetics, but I'm too miserly to go making permanent changes that require spending money when there are free stems lying around.

Most people are too distracted by the wheels to notice the stem anyway. :p

This thing again? Didn't we see that a few months ago? Same picture too.

It hasn't ceased looking like a Korean War era Jeep with a shiny hood ornament.

That is basically the worst looking bike I've ever seen.

...and from the posting in the alternate, new-and-improved thread,

So I guess opinion varies depending on day and thread location. I'm comfortable with either description (that's a new crank, BTW.) This thread is more pret-a-porter than not, so I'm just as willing to offend sensibilities as please them.

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/...pswyxyicde.jpg
Waiting to get the steerer cut!

From 1 hour 58 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes.

Its a cheap poverty-mod Evo :cry:
Probably a combination of both haha

Actually crashed today coming down Hamilton, and nothing is broken I don't think. Shifters are pretty scratched up, but still functional.

I might be getting mandibles. Shop discount soon!

Ah - a mountain. Hot.

IMHO too much red w/ the cages and the bar tape. I don't know too much about cable lengths, but I think yours are too long after lowering your stem.