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@Kazaroth
In an effort to head off my expensive ambition I tried a Charge Plug today (I think the all grey one actually looks super nice) and the Spesh Langster steel (the red+silver one), which despite the general Langster hate looks pretty nice I think.
Both can be got in Evans for £399 at the moment (the former via price match, I already have the voucher from them so...).
The problem seems to be the sizing, so a more general question: for those folks that frequently change bikes / have multiple bikes: how different do they feel and how much of a differing comfort level should I expect?
The large Plug is 62.2 STL, 56.6 TTL, the Langster is something like 60/60 and my current roadie is 61/58 and they all felt completely different... but there are so many factors I couldn't really tell why they were different. I would've thought the extra uprightness of the Plug would make it more comfortable than my roadie, but in fact I felt like all the weight was on my hands. The Langster felt better but the track bars are so lame it was hard to feel past that.
My hunch is that it was actually all down to the relative saddle/pedal position rather than anything else. My roadie has a layback seatpost and I have the saddle almost as far back as it will go as well. The further back the saddle is, the less weight is on your hands (and the easier it is to ride no handed, IMO, too), so maybe I'd just need to move the Charge saddle back and it'd be fine?
Equally, the whole Roadrat thing, how can I tell how comfortable it'll be without being able to test ride the setup I'm going for?
Ultimately then, my question is- for you guys who frequently build your own bikes: do you just get to know a half decent geometry for your proportions and then tweak the seatpost/spacers/stem to get comfy ride?
...or can you make any geometry comfortable with the right other bits?
Excuse the ramble :)