My new toy (some assembly required)

One of my updates from last weekend in Texas is that my new bike arrived.

"New bike?" you might say. "Last year, didn't you go on and on about not buying a new luxury item from China?"

"In fact I did," I'd answer. "But this bike was actually made in Taiwan, of Columbus tubing (which is good stuff). Besides, that was last year."

And since I'm making up this entire conversation, I'd respond to your generous offer of a new car with, "Yes, thank you. I'd like the Volvo C30. I appreciate that's not too expensive a car, but I don't want to impose."

So I have a new bike. Or more specifically, I have a new bike frame. For my third bike, while I strongly considered a penny-farthing, I opted for a standard aluminum road frame, which I'm going to build up myself. This might go disastrously bad, but since there are few overly complex moving parts and no electrical or plumbing work involved, I'm not really worried about damaging anything, except maybe my ego when I need to bring the tangled mess into a bike shop to undo my debacle.

Also, apparently I was such a good customer over the phone that Fetish Cycles (the bike company) sent me two (2) frames for the price of one. I contemplated some kind of reverse training wheel build (two frames on one set of wheels), but thought better of it when I realized I wouldn't easily be able to mount the saddle without access to a machine shop. Besides, Fetish decided they actually want the "free" frame back.