It seems to be a nice frame. It weighs 3.0 lbs (60cm), has a couple of non-round tubes - top tube is round at head tube and morphs to elliptical (wider than thick) at seat-post, down-tube is tear-drop-ish with reinforcement at the head tube. I understand some/all of the tubes are double-butted, but that's not something I can see... What I read about it suggests I have a pretty stiff and light frame. To carry on this theme, I plan to spend a little extra here and there to keep things light - not so much that it will make me faster, but it seems to fit the frame's purpose.
I started looking into forks, and choices seem to be (with brake bosses, 700c):
- Steel (lugged or welded), around $100, 2-2.5 lbs
- Carbon with aluminum steerer tube, over $200, 1.5-2 lbs
- Carbon with carbon steerer, over $300, around 1 lb
The paint job on this bike is awfully busy, fancy, and too much like my mountain bike (similar colors). There are also a few nicks and scratches. So, I got out the sand-paper, steel wool, and elbow grease (although I found a picture of a product called "Elbow Grease" I didn't actually buy or use this - apparently it's a "personal lubricant").
Now the frame looks like this:
Logos are off, scratches are gone, and the whole frame is 400 grit smooth. Next I'll have to prime, and then paint. I'm undecided on the paint, so any ideas are welcome. To get the juices flowing, here's the ideas I have so far:
- School bus yellow, leave the fork black (maybe with black bands on the down-tube and/or seat tube)
- White, leave the fork black, with "Bicycle" on the down-tube
- Black
- Brown metal flake with black candy
- School bus yellow base, yellow metal flake, red candy
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