So the Spooky has been despatched back to the QC shy Americans and I have my refund. I'm about £250 down due to exchange rate changes, import duties and other fees with nothing but a 4 month period without a frame to show for it, but hey, worse happens at sea. No one died.
So this week I've been spending a lot of time deciding what I want to replace it with. The main contenders were:
Another Stanton Sherpa built with drops
Mason Bokeh
All City Cosmic Stallion
All City Gorilla Monsoon
Surly Midnight Special
Something from Salsa (they have a few options)
3T Exploro
An Independent Fabrication Gravel Royale that briefly appeared on eBay this week
Mason ISO
Pocketing the cash and spending it on cider
I ideally wanted something off the shelf as I'm sick of waiting for a frame. It's Spring and pretty much my fave time of the year to be bombing around bridleways and single track on a drop bar bike.
Without boring you to death with the to-ing and fro-ing of my indecision, I've decided to go for the Midnight Special as it'll fit the bulk of the stuff that got stripped from my Victoire and it will give me the most distinctly different bike to what I already own. The purpose of going from 14 to 6 was to minimise the overlap. A drop bar Stanton would be crazy fun, but not that different to the riser bar version I already own and love.
So the Spooky has been despatched back to the QC shy Americans and I have my refund. I'm about £250 down due to exchange rate changes, import duties and other fees with nothing but a 4 month period without a frame to show for it, but hey, worse happens at sea. No one died.
So this week I've been spending a lot of time deciding what I want to replace it with. The main contenders were:
Another Stanton Sherpa built with drops
Mason Bokeh
All City Cosmic Stallion
All City Gorilla Monsoon
Surly Midnight Special
Something from Salsa (they have a few options)
3T Exploro
An Independent Fabrication Gravel Royale that briefly appeared on eBay this week
Mason ISO
Pocketing the cash and spending it on cider
I ideally wanted something off the shelf as I'm sick of waiting for a frame. It's Spring and pretty much my fave time of the year to be bombing around bridleways and single track on a drop bar bike.
Without boring you to death with the to-ing and fro-ing of my indecision, I've decided to go for the Midnight Special as it'll fit the bulk of the stuff that got stripped from my Victoire and it will give me the most distinctly different bike to what I already own. The purpose of going from 14 to 6 was to minimise the overlap. A drop bar Stanton would be crazy fun, but not that different to the riser bar version I already own and love.