A Steelman may be had as a complete bike or as a frameset; I built this one up with eight-speed Ultegra STI, a 175mm Race Face crankset (48/36) and bottom bracket, 12-25 XT cogset, Cinelli Eubios bars wearing Off the Front Volante tape, a Steelman stem, Chris King headset, Time pedals, Dia-Compe 986 cantilevers, Flite saddle topping a RockShox post, and Dura-Ace wheels wearing Vredestein Campo 700x32 foldable clinchers. I'll give you a weight as soon as I get near a scale, but it's light ... plenty light enough for the likes of my big ass.

This is my newest bike, and the one I'll be racing most often this season, with my old Eurocross demoted to backup duty. It's light without being fragile, and stable without being sluggish. It feels like what it is -- a road-racing bike with expanded clearances for fork, chain stays and bottom bracket -- and it's pure joy to ride on the evil washboard, scary single-track and lumpy sageland surrounding Dog Mountain.

Brent rides a Eurocross 525, and says this less-expensive, slightly heavier model outsold the 853 two-to-one in its debut back in 1998. I've never ridden the 525, and I'm not sure I ever will. I like the 853 so much that I may just buy another one the next time my wife leaves town and forgets to hide the credit cards.

--Patrick O'Grady/Mad Dog Media