Equipment - Second Ultrasound

So appropriately, on Christmas Eve, I got a slightly early present from Tsunami Bikes; the second ultrasound. Santa Claus apparently jammed this into my email box, along with all the emails on 50% off of virtually everything ever sold in stores as well as warnings about all sorts of unauthorized access made to bank accounts I don't have.

Look towards the bottom of the picture - you can see the enormous bottom bracket shell.

Grown a bit since last time, right? Welds, a rear triangle, and, apparently, a sibling on the other side of the stand. Looks fast now, efficient, stiff. Not very "BMX-like" as I expected. More like a size small compact frame bike, or, more precisely, a long version of a size small compact frame bike.

You know, the L version of the BMW 750i or the Audi A8.

This bike will need an "L" at the end of whatever it ends up being called. I have no idea what to call it yet so I'll have to figure it out later.

The things I notice from these decidedly iPhone-like pictures include some interesting details.

First is the familiar downtube and top tube on both frames - it seems to be a standard (exterior) shape for Tsunami. As long as it works, right? I'm liking the short headtube and the resulting tube-traffic-jam just behind it.

And, remember, I want the stiffest, most efficient frame possible.

Second, the rear stays seems somewhat un-Cannondale-like. The seat stays are pretty beefy, the chainstays less so. Looking at other pictures of Tsunamis, part of the reason for the large looking seat stays is probably the camera fisheye lens - you'll notice the headtube angle looks really steep too, and it's more shallow than the seat tube.

Anyway, I'm not a builder, so I don't know how things affect the ride. As usual I defer to the builder.

You know the philosophy, right? You know what you know, and you know what you don't know.

I don't know frame building so I'm leaving it up to the pros.

(Of course there's the stuff I don't know I don't know, and usually that's what bites you in the buttocks, so I try and leave some leeway for that stuff. In this case I've left that leeway pretty thin.)

I'm really getting a bit antsy about getting this frame - I feel like I'm riding on borrowed time on my current frame, just waiting until this masterpiece shows up. It's all good, riding my Cannondale, but it's like wearing unhemmed pants or an unfit suit.

I know what I have now isn't quite right. More significantly, I've had the flavor of what it should be, and, more importantly, what it will be.

Sigh.