Projecting my problems

So, this strange infatuation with a noodle bar droopy bike. 

"Why?"

One might ask that.  Many actually have.  So more than one might ask and did/do.

I am in love with the process of putting a bicycle together.  In my head as well as with hands and tools.  The selection of the perfect parts.  The sweating of the geometry.  Looking at what's new since the last time and figuring out what's an "upgrade" and what's just bullshit.

My Vertigo Meatplow V.7 is just about as perfect as it gets (for me).  Sure, I might mess with tiny things, like grips, tires, Togs... the very little things.  For the most part, there's not much I would change right now, even if I could.

If I could turn back time tho...

A new frame with Boost would mean a better chainline if I ever wanted to run gears... which... meh.  It would also mean a Boost/non-Boost wheelset, since the options for Boost rigid crabon froks is pretty much almost nill.  That would be a hard set of wheels to ever unload, so... no. 

It would be nice to have an internally rooted drooper, but there's not a lot of pretty ways to do it on a frame made of metal.  I thought the Thomson Bluetooth was right around the corner when I had the frame built, but at this point, I wish I woulda had included a set of guides for my drooper.  I've gotten used to the aesthetic of the external cable drooper after staring at it this long, so maybe the point is moo.  Like a cow's opinion.  It's just moo.

So not much there that justifies a new frame for the purposes of making great (or not so great) bike race.

I thought about replacing the By:Stickel Meatplow V6.  Get a full suspension frame that weighs almost the same... something like the Turner Flux V4.0.

It ticks so many correct boxes.  Internal drooper, non-Boost rear end, water bottle mount... ungh... and a press fit BB?  Can't win them all.  I'm not too many parts away from being able to swap it with the By:Stickel.  New cranks, bottom bracket, something to tension the chain (yeth, I would make it a single speed) and an internal drooper.  Done.

But...

I've ridden the By:Stickel in Pisgah once since coming back from Durango in August.  Yeth, it's not normal for me to not get to the mountains more often, but still... I get mebbe get twelve trips a year in, so the big squishy fun bike spends a lot of time hanging on the wall.   Sinking another $3,000+ into wall art?

Meh.  I enjoy the By:Stickel enough to justify its existence as is.  Because I already have it.

But...

The desire to piece something useful together is still there.  Some people build hot rods or rebuild old cars.  Others learn how to play the bass or take up woodwork.  Video games.  Collecting "albums."  Quilting...  dunno.  None of that really interests me.

My last few (many) rides have been in town fart-arounds.  I've done them on a flat bar normal (to me) single speed bike.  They've been pleasant, but I think a noodle bar droopy bike would be fun too.  Besides, I already have a rigid (usually) MTB SS, a front squished semi-plusser MTB SS, a fixed brakeless MTB SS, and a flat bar tacrk bike... so I'm running out of single speed niches.

Another piece of the puzzle was found under the virtual couch the other day.  Eric Wever suggested that I run SRAM Force CX1 brifters, satisfying one of my problems, and then another problem dissolved when Greg Clemmer of Asheville Street and Dirt confirmed that the right shifty lever could be gutted to make it operate a drooper post.

"Yes, I can make it into an actuator. All I have to do is pull this clip and pin."

I don't see anything he's talking about and can't relate since the last time I was inside a brifter, it was a Shimano 600 nine speed.

But that problem is solved.

So, I bothered Eric McKeegan because he's ridden a slew of noodle bar bikes.  He truly is an "industry" insider douchebag media journalist hack.  Between the two of us spit balling, we both agreed that no frame/bike that is currently mass produced fits precisely into my slot.  He enjoys a similar sort of mountain bike, so I'm led to believe our tastes in noodles would be same same.

I am sad and also relieved.

Guess it's time to start buying vinyl or sign up for oboe lessons.