Hi all,

This my new bike. Certainly not up to WW quality (yet!) but there is NO better place to come for some inspiration and suggestions. Please have a look, and PLEASE I'd love suggestions on colors / components to really make this bike GREAT over the next couple of months.

My last bike was an open-mold carbon frame (basically an older pedalforce QS3 model) which treated me well, until an accident left a seat stay precariously close to failure. I'd gotten a 2010 SRAM Force GS (with Red shifters) with the frame, and built it up in a black-and-white theme, with Ritchey WCS white bar/stem, a thomson seatpost, Soul 4.0 wheels, white cables/spacers, and a very comfortable if heavy sella max flite gel flow from a few years ago. Here is my old love before her accident (with new Zipps/quarq on):


I've been racing more, and really do best in shorter, hard efforts and sprints. I also was really interested in going back to aluminum for a race bike (N+1... in the next year or two I can get a "fancier" carbon bike for pleasure rides, crits are too messy). I also loved the idea of buying something from a local craftsman... hence the new spooky:


My photography doesn't do the paint justice. Its a very bright orange, with a ton of flake/sparkle in it. Its a M/L in his sizing system, which is similar to most manufacturers 56-57cm frame, and fits me well at 6' tall (57cm TT length).

As far as weight... the frame, with paint, braze-on, hanger, seatpost clamp, and bottle cage bolts was about 1250gm. Heavier than my off-brand carbon, BUT it came with an ENVE fork which was almost 150gm lighter. Between the fork and lack of FD clamp, the framesets are basically equal weight.



This shot gives a bit better idea of the paint. Also shows the neat, clean front-end cabling that the frame has



And that is her with the components basically transferred laterally. Victoria open corsa 25mm tires which are like velvet on the road, NOS Zipp 404 clincher with aluminum brake track, and 2012 Red FD/Quarq. Forgive the very tall steerer; I'm still dialing in the fit. I've only got about 50 miles on it, but I have to say I love it. Very stiff and predictable in all out sprints, and with these tires it is very comfortable even on rough roads. Just wants to go fast.

Anyway, I'm building it open with the #1 purpose to race... so no CRAZY exotic parts. However, I do want it to look good I am a big fan of orange-and-blue together, so I am thinking of incorporating that into a new theme...

The quarq is staying, and I'd be loathe to get rid of the thomson post. However I'm open any suggestions!

Gorgeous! I have mentioned this many time before, but I want a Spooky so badly!

Anyways, here is what I would do.....keep the Thomson post but get a matching Thomson stem. Change tape to white to match the saddle (assuming you wouldn't change saddle to black which would be my suggestion just for ease of keeping things tidy).....and get a black bar as well. The white you have now is a bit distracting to the overall look IMHO. Keep the blue to the frame also as I think it would muddy up with the red touches on the grouppo....

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cut the steerer , commit to the slam.

I agree with tompkins - smaller black saddle, black stem and bars. Black bottle cages.

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Looks tough! And those front cable stops are brilliant! Would love to see it in person

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[sarcasm]yeah, just to look "pro". he should do that![/sarcasm]

No, really. There is no point in cutting your steerer short and move the stem as low as possible. It is a fitting nightmare and it will only help you in the looks department. The OP is racing, even has a powermeter that should indicate he is serious. He should be serious of his performance as well.

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x2 on getting a Thomson stem, I even run the x4 mtb stem which is super stiff and bold looking IMHO.

he's already slammed. There is also no point good reason to keep the spacer tower .. Unless you wanna sell the bike..

Spooky looks great op though! I want one but the sizing is weird (non custom)

Thanks for the tips guys!

Yeah, I'm trialing the slam on this bike before committing. I have about 80 miles and it feels good. My reach is almost 1cm longer on this set up, and the drop perhaps 5mm more than my old bike. Feels better, frankly. So I will likely soon go ahead and slice off the rest of the steerer.

As far as components:
While I like this saddle, I have a 'cross bike it will look good on (that currently has a horrible saddle). So I'm not against a black saddle at all. Probably WILL go with something with a similar form.

I tend to agree the white stem and bars don't look as nice on this bike as my old one. Again, they'll actually look nice and function well on my cross bike, so it won't be a loss to move to a new black setup. I like the idea of a thomson stem to match the seatpost! Just have to figure out which bars I want.... def. sticking to aluminum.

What do you guys think (once the stem, bars, saddle, and cages) are back-in-black... of throwing on a couple little anodized blue bling bits. Nothing overkill; maybe RD pulley, some ferrules... I think they would match the blue Spooky sticker well and add a little touch of fun.

A baby blue and orange "gulf racing" color scheme would look incredible, IMHO!

Great looking frame, the welds look so beautiful!

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I've ordered a lovely black 2012 Thomson x4 stem!

Now I just need to choose handlebars. I actually really like the feel of the WCS ergo bends I have on there now... might just go for the wet black version of the same. Any suggestions?

Good choice on the X4. They are nice and stiff and awesome.

Why bother with the "wet black" Ritchey stuff? Just get the cheapest thing they make with the bend you like. You're going to cover the bars with tape after all.

I have 9 different candy translucent colors in stock now. I'm loving them, everybody else is too!

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Could you post some pics of those colors Mickey?

Still intrigued by Spookys and interested, just hoping there are no bike requirements from our team sponsors next year.

If I ever want to buy a new alloy frame, Spooky looks to be my first choice.
It's also great to support a domestic company.

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mickey if you post pics of more awesome colors, I'll have to buy a whole stable of your bikes...

I ended up getting the ritchey wet black bars, though I took your advice... I was looking for cheap similar bends on ebay and found a set of these for $40 which seems like a good enough steal for me!

I'll have some updated pics next week when things come in.