Per Anton Berlin:
I am one of those nuts that has 10 machines in the garage. From a
custom made Columbus Max with SR an Aquila titanium with a brand new c-
record large flange group, to several carbon frames and a collection
of disc wheels and H3s etc.

I am in the stage where I want to simplify and feel that I could get
practical and get down to one bike and be content with that.

My current idea is a titanium cyclocross style bike that uses mtb
wheels, has a long wheelbase and is set up for touring (fenders,
panniers, etc) would be the best compromise of all worlds.

I want a bike that is flexible enough to ride everyday, tour
extensively on (already have 2 cycling trips around the world and
multiple through Europe)

The open questions are rim brakes or discs ? Derailleurs or internal
gearing (rohloff or sram) ?

And the pros and cons of using s&s couplers. Thanks in advance for
your thoughts and input.

I don't have 10 machines, only five, including a hard tail, two
FS's, and a single speed. But I'm probably one of those nuts.

Since I built up my Salsa Fargo, it has been used for 90+ percent
of my riding. This would validate your cyclocross-style
predilection although I do not aspire to tours or touring.
My typical rides are 1.75-3.5 hours, 80% on paved surfaces.

I think I paid something like six-hundred bucks for my Fargo
frame. Maybe it's not up to a Ti custom, but it's durable,
comfortable, fits my weird-ass body well enough... and probably
has 80 percent of the function at 20 percent of the price.


I favor:

- 700C wheels bc, in narrower widths like 38's they roll
perceptibly better over rough ground/soft grass. With
55's, I can't say I can feel the diff although others
say they can.

- MTB Rims. Mine are Delgados. I can put 28's on them and
that's about as skinny as I ever want - and I don't even
use them very often because they beat me up too much. My
favored tires are 38's, but I *could* mount Big Apples some
day if/when I had too much money laying around.

- Cable-actuated disc brakes. Cable bc it's good enough and
do not require periodic bleeding. Disc bc they are more
fault-tolerant and predictable.

- Rohloff hub bc it's bombproof, quick to shift 3-4 gears,
and I don't have any extra brain cells to spare worrying about
which front chain wheel I am on. I would qualify that
with the observation that my initial attraction was the
"bombproof" aspect and, since I'm riding mostly on
paths now that's moot. It's also ungodly heavy and
expensive. That being said, I still wouldn't go back.
OTOH, if I just *had* to go back, it wouldn't be the end of
my world by any means. In fact, I kind of enjoy the light feel
of my one der-powered FS (the other one runs Rohloff)

- I like the sound of S&S couplings although I do not use
or need them. Had them on another frame that never worked
out for other reasons and found them tb fault-tolerant and
generally bombproof. i.e. they do not depend on tightnesss
to function and there are not small parts to fall into the
grass and become lost Also had the Ritchey system on still
another aborted frame. If you go with a breakdown system,
definitely go for the S&S and do *NOT* go with Ritchey.

- Flat, not drop bars - but with 6" extenders on them facing
forward and slightly down. Reason: in tight turns, they do
not get in the way of my legs, I have a greater range of
fore-aft hand positions, they support the Roholoff shifter,
getting on the forward-facing extensions out of the saddle
going up hills is really nice; and the hand positions/comfort
are good enough. The comfort is not as good as being
on the hoods of drop bars, but it's close enough.

- Those German ergo grips. They're super-easy to put on/take off
when it's time to move things around or make adjustments and
their shape prevents the hand numbness that used to plague me.


--
Pete Cresswell