So after dropping my chain in the road race in Mead, I was committed to designing a new frame.  It had to be stiff, light weight, blah, blah, blah.  The usual.  Luckily Columbus has come out with a new series of tubes called HSS.  High Strength Steel.   I think it is the Spirit tubing with a different profile.  The top tube is octogonal, the down tube is a beefy  44 mm shaped tube that ends up at 49 mm at its widest and the head tube is a 44/56 integrated headset.  I also went super compact with geo to create the stiffest steel frame I could figure out.  I used the smallest sized dual tapered stays to make the ride extra comfy. I ended up custom ordering paint to create really cool color combo of dark red with the black cherry metallic frame.

So far the bike has exceeded expectations.  I never thought I could get a ride as comfy of the S3 frame, but this one is even better.  The frame ended up weighing 1750 grams for a 57 cm size.  I went with a lighter fork than my S3, so my total build weight ended up about the same, in the low 16 LB range.

I give an update once I get further into the year.