Rant

It feels like the Lobster’s tinkering is reaching a plateau. The bike rides so smoothly, and everything works just as intended. Yet even perfectly functional parts can sometimes still be a bother when you’re this close to perfection.
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Sometimes it’s a performance issue, sometimes it’s aesthetic, and sometimes it’s just because the part just doesn’t really live up to the expectations of the rest of the build.
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This week I finally got the front derailleur sorted, and it’s such a joy. But that deserves a post of its own. Short version: goodbye Mirage 9, and hello 105 5800. What a hilarious mish-mash.
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A friend had a pair of XTR WaffleTech™️ rotors and I was not entirely happy with the admittedly just fine M7000 IceTechs, so that’s a change that ended up saving 50 grams in addition to looking pretty sweet.
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There’s another post coming about tire and fender decisions, as the 35mm @compasscycle Bon Jon Pass were too big to run with Honjos and one was too far along in its life cycle to go tubeless. So, @simworksusa Volummy 32s are on and set up tubeless real easy.
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Another recent addition is the bar bag from @farsiksply, a simple and stylish take on the so-hot-right-now burrito bag that’s made by a long time friend in Victoria, BC, and keeps things nice and clean.
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What’s left that’s still kinda bugging me is the basic FSA headset that came with the bike when I picked it up, and the Soma seat clamp that I pulled out of the bins here as the one that came on the bike was truly bad.
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The cool thing about having a completely fresh build is my motivation to get out and ride is at a high point. It’s super nice to have a bike that fits perfectly, rides smooth, and has a flawless drivetrain.

Something really annoys me about the above post. I can't quite figure out what it is. I think it's something to do with the more-money-than-sense profligacy of replacing something as piddlingly small as a seat clamp or headset for aesthetic reasons, but simultaneously equivocating about replacing wear items ("this tyre was too old to be used tubeless" - well just fucking use a tube or buy a new one then). And all wrapped in semi-mystical #influencer marketing language.

Grr. I still like the bike though

Edit: maybe it's also the feeling that he's turning non-issues into problems that demand an entire paragraph of justification and wavering, when in most cases "it works better" is a good enough reason to replace something. Maybe it's that they come across like the wine-tasting-experts of the cycling world, with the same susceptibility to marketing, fashion, conflation of price with quality, etc.