Custom Cross Bike - "With the Way You Ride..."

From a needs standpoint for me, I think in many ways this becomes a pretty simple process. Feel free to tell me I'm wrong.

A. Frame Material.

Some of you may remember a previous post regarding Leadville last year where I described how Johnny, Jeff and I were having the proverbial, 'what bike would you build if' conversation when Johnny said, "Well, with the way you ride..." and then went on to, in essence, describe how I beat the shit out of bikes like there is no tomorrow and ride with the grace of a pitbull.

Since then, "with the way you ride" has stuck to me like glue and the description is still just as appropriate. Titanium gets the vote here. In fact, it's durablity has occassionaly been called a drawback of several of my friends. The idea being that you now have a Lifer. No need to buy another bike when you have it. My simple response to that? I can always find a reason to get another bike.

B. Hurry up and Wait Time.

Currently, I have no Cross Bike. I could pony up for something like a Redline to get me through, but that seems a bit unneeded if not pointless. For example, I emailed Sacha from a cafe in Leadville right before the race last year and his wait time was well over a year. His frames are well worth it, but time is important to me so a Vanilla will need to wait.

C. Passion.

If I don't dig it going in, there's no point in going there. In other words, I am leaving a little space in my heart on this choice and not just relying on an abacus and checklist to equate my way to a bike selection. I realize not everyone does things this way.

Here's a weird example. I was having a conversation with a friend at work last week about Grammar. He was talking through the classic confusion of whether to use 'I or me' and discussing the need to get it right. I had heard similar conversations numerous times at Purdue and shared this line I often use with my collegue. "In the end, I don't care, because at the end of the day, I would rather speak like a poet. To me, language is art and not an equation."

I feel the same way about bikes. I know there are many good builders out there. I think the ones I mentioned, as well as those G-ted and MW added all fit that bill. I could Team Over-Analysis the whole situation, but I think I lose something if I do. There are builders out there I just dig and I know I will lean toward them.

Really narrows the field, eh?

This post was brought to you by pure silence.

Update: I dropped the fucking ball and forgot to mention THIS.