Hi Matt:
Like your passion about bikes. Please don't lose that. NR/SR brakes do rock....
The only other comment I would make is in response to your Eddy Merckx frame material selection note (excerpted below). Eddy is a full-time businessman. He doesn't build any frames personally, but he will direct his people to use whatever materials are the most popular and are going to net him the most profit in the current boutique marketplace of high-end bicycle frames. These frames are primarily fashion statements, not transportation devices. The "styles" change frequently, thereby obsoleting last year's model. Open a Performance Bicycle catalog these days for example, and you will rarely find even a single steel frameset available for purchase. Does that make Titanium, aluminum, and plastic "classic?" I think not....
Cheers,
Greg Parker A2 MI USA
Matt from up MN wrote:
<snip>
> Philosophic note #6: lugs are cool - but if Eddy
> Merckx builds frames out of aluminum and carbon then
> those of us who love lugged steel should just swallow
> hard and embrace the new classics
>
>
<snip>