Pearson Carbon Audax Pro: A comfy, modern & fast (ish) long-distance bike

So I'd been lusting after a modern bike, preferably carbon framed, for a while. I do really like BMCs, but couldn't quite bring myself to shell out crap loads of cash on something with race geometry when what I really like doing is long rides, where comfort for a long time in the saddle is more important than speed.

One thing the longer audaxes I've done (specifically the Green and Yellow Fields, which was the longest I've done so far at 190 miles) have taught me is that a steel track frame probably isn't the best tool for such rides, and as I don't want to wear my lovely vintage Colnago into the ground, I wanted something more modern and practical.

This frame came up on eBay and seems to have everything I'm looking for - light weight, decent quality carbon, mudguard mounts and most importantly 'sensible' geometry. It's something of a mystery to me why so many road bikes are sold with race geometry when, for what the owners will use them for, a bike version of a 'grand tourer' would be much more suitable, but anyway - it was well priced so I snapped it up.

Carbon might seem like a funny choice for a bike like this, as the received wisdom is that 'steel is real', but it performs well on weight, comfort and fatigue life. I was interested to read what Mike Hall, the round the world record holder, said about choosing carbon:

“Over the past few years I’ve become a proponent of carbon for longer rides. I’ve found that I’ve cracked any metal bike over a long period of time. Steel, alu or titanium, I’ve cracked them all through long-term use. If you look at fatigue tests, carbon frames perform better. A bad carbon frame will fail, of course, but I’m a fan because it’s a more damped ride."

I reckon it'll be fine for me then, especially as I weigh about 58kg...

I gave Pearson a ring to ask about the frame as I couldn't find a picture on the internet of one with the wavy seat stays, and apparently it's a few years old and one of the Italian made versions (the new ones are made in Taiwan). The quality of the carbon seems very nice, based on a good look at least, and it's obviously not had much use (It was sold to me as unused, but I think it's had some. The sellers were the family of the chap who owned it before who had died: they'd literally found it in a box in his loft, so I wasn't going to make a fuss/ask too many questions).

I'm going to keep a record here of what I build it up with, as much for myself as anything, and hopefully get some advice. It's probably fair to say it's not going to be a typical LFGSS build, but hopefully at least someone will find it of interest! I'll stick up a better photo when I can but have just moved and have no internet...