Hola, amigos and anonymouses. Been a long time. But I gave Monday to MLK (and roughly 12 hours of NBA basketball) and yesterday to Obama (although I could have done without pretty much everything after his speech. I’m still having trouble believing that Nick freaking Cannon DJed the “Neighborhood Ball.” Maybe we’re not out of the woods yet.)

Appreciate all the commentary (both good and bad) on Project: Complete. Right now I’m leaning heavily towards the FBM Marauder BL. Basically, I want a complete that’s similar to what I’m riding now—brakeless, four pegs, decent standover, black—so I can run it straight out of the box. And the 20.5″ frame shouldn’t bother me much—I had an old 20.5″ Stricker a while back, and other than it’s being a tank, I liked it a lot. The only other bike still in the running is the Fit STR-3, but from what I can tell I think the FBM’s a little bit taller. As for the other contenders, well:

KINK LIBERTY — Pretty much the same as the Marauder, and when it comes down to it I’d rather try the FBM.

GIANT METHOD TEAM — The original idea was to just get a Giant and make it my main bike. Ride a BMX bike from the biggest manufacturer in the world (it shouldn’t make a difference, really—BMX geometry isn’t guarded like the KFC secret recipe). But the Method Team comes with so many aftermarket parts that it just didn’t seem like it would be that interesting to write about. Plus, I’d have to lose the brake and put on four pegs. Too much like work. I still like the idea of riding a Giant, though. Maybe for the next bike after.

STOLEN SINNER — Too many horror stories from too many people. And I don’t have health insurance.

VERDE RADIA — A few things appealed. Like, would a mostly high-tensile steel frame hold up? And would the super-low fixed Pivotal seat drive me completely insane? I figure the answer to the second question was “absolutely,” so out went that.

WTP ENVY — Too expensive. And again, too many aftermarket parts. It would more or less be a test of the éclat gruppo, and it seems like all that stuff works just fine. I’m not Sean Burns or Chester Blacksmith.

EASTERN… WHATEVER — I’d rather push a Huffy than ride an Eastern.

KHE — I’m not a 12-year-old girl.

HARO/PREMIUM — Didn’t really look into it all that much. Ditto for any other company I’m forgetting.

So that’s that. I’ll take suggestions for the rest of the week, and maybe the beginning of next week, but then I want to buy something and get this thing off the ground. Hopefully it’ll get above freezing.

Hey, wow, Verde’s forks have built-in bearing races. Like, um, Odyssey’s did a year and a half ago.

I’m saving this for tomorrow.