The SOMA Smoothie ES arrived today from my old shop in San Francisco (American Cyclery). Yeee-haaaaa!!! The frame clocked in at 4.6 pounds for a 56cm. While not light by today's standards that's still a very respectable weight. I doubt anything Eddy raced weighed much less!
Also included in the box were a pair of Interloc B-57 brakes and an Interloc headset. Brad was also kind enough to toss in some American Cyclery bottles and t-shirts for old times sake. The Interloc brakes are easily on par with Shimano's long reach brakes. Might actually be better finished. The headset is made by Tange for Interloc and it's hard not to like anything from Tange.
Also arriving was a set of 46cm Nitto Noodle bars and some yellow cloth tape. The Noodle bar bends just right in all the right places. Even off the bike I can see why people like this bar. The tape is a nice shade of yellow. Somewhere between mustard and Homer Simpson yellow. I plan to wrap it over some Specialized Bar Phat pads. This will give me the grip and looks of of cloth but with enough padding so I don't have to wear gloves. Plus I have big hands and like the way thicker tape feels.
Still waiting on parts from QBP. Tonight I need to measure the frame and figure out what size stem to order. Still have many decisions to make. Do I go for the sleek, light polished Interloc stem or the artistic boat anchor Rivendell stem? Hammerton Honjo fenders, carbon Berthoud fenders or stainless Berthoud fenders? Do I spurge and get the lighter Schmidt dynamo hub or do I save $150 and get the heavier and less expensive Shimano model that probably works just as well? Just happy these are the sort of tough questions I'm burdened with! Life could be a whole lot worse.
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