From Drew B in Kansas:

Just wanted to make sure your 10 minutes of tears at the Fedex depot were not totally unwarranted.  CC is currently sporting a Brooks B17 Honey (I usually don’t go for hype, but I gave it a whirl this time around due to overwhelming online reviews and I am totally 100% sold on Brooks, easily the most comfortable seat I’ve ever used and not even close to broken in).  I also did a lot of research/googling about matching bar tape to Brooks honey and settled on a hybrid of online tips and experience from my days as a hockey player.  I wrapped yellow hockey stick tape (4 bucks for 75 feet) super tight over the existing grip, just one layer.  I then used four coats of Bullseye Amber Shellac (10 bucks for a quart, enough to do probably 100 sets of bars) to seal and color it.  Not only does it match color perfectly, but it is supposed to last forever, and it gives it a really nice feel, like cork tape with a gritty non-slip surface.  Small bag on the rack is just a Camelbak shell, getting ready for a 40 miler from KC to Lawrence tomorrow, Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!!!!  Next step, extravagant but I don’t care, fenders by www.woodysfenders.com.  Much cooler than plastic in my opinion.  Anyway, while the CC will not see any action in the local ‘cross scene (2005 Voodoo Limba with full 2×9 Ultegra STI for that), it will log many miles in the near future.  Sorry to write a novel, but I already love this bike.

P.S. Also just finished my first full, ground-up build.  I stripped my wife’s old mid 90’s Giant Iguana mtb down, repainted it, and built up as a single speed.  Found the perfect combination (32/16) to get it to work with vertical dropouts but no chain tension device.  Grips are 5 layers of hockey tape, shellacked, with wine corks as bar ends.  Oh, and of course the I (heart) my bike bell is schwag from a ‘cross race last season.  The unfortunate part about finishing this build and getting it to actually ride is that it has already been pointed out to me that I now have 4 bikes instead of 3.  Luckily we both ride the same size, so they are OUR bikes, and WE now have 5!

Peace.
Drew

Check out this beauty:

Thanks Drew for being a true Bike Goon, and taking care of old CC