Just another NBD.

      Dealing with stressful situations is a challenge to us all.  The best thing to do is get a new bike.  The Giant mountain bike was not a reasonable solution to the loss of the Soma Buena Vista.  The Giant came off the shelf, ready to ride, and didn't really satisfy the "tinkering" hanker from which I suffer severely.   I really loved the mixte but I have to admit that I had it highly over geared.  I really didn't use it as extensively as I imagined when I built it. I toyed with the idea of buying another, but by mid November had convinced myself I'd done enough and would just be guilty of over biking.  Then, I received an e-mail from Soma offering 20% off on everything.  Don't you hate it when they do that?  I really had talked myself out of it, but had no choice when faced with $110 savings.  The day you don't shop is the day you don't save, right? Well hell, there I was, and they make it in red.  We all know red bikes are faster.  There was really no choice.

      I built it leaner, basically raiding the parts bin for stuff I hadn't used on other ideas.   A left over pair of wheels with a 7 speed "mega range" freewheel works with a single ring FSA crankset and will get me around as well as the Nuvinci hub which suffered from extra weight and less efficiency (although I still loved the Nuvinci).  I put a lot of unused parts to good use and spent less than $700 out of pocket.  The end result was a fun commuter which can be mounted easily when towing the new grocery trailer.   After all the crap, another NBD!