My baby is here

First of all, sorry about not writing anything for so long. Life gets in the way of life. From now on, however, I'll post only once or twice a week.

Today I received a great surprise: my new road bike is here!!!! Well, at least the skeleton of it, but that's the most important piece. Lo and behold, here I introduce you to.... LA MACCHINA. (The designer of the frame is J/Tati. He took the pictures too.)



Made to order by the finest titanium frame builder in Asia. The width, length, angle and thickness of every tube have been chosen to fit me and my riding preferences. Ain't that neat? A unique masterpiece that will last a lifetime.

A pretty stiff bottom bracket shell...

Massive chainstays.

Check out the ovalized downtube.

J marvels at how clean the welds are. So do I.

The massive, sculpted limbs, together with the finesse and nakedness of the titanium finish, conjure up images of Michelangelo's human bodies:

* * *

Now I need to make a decision about the finish of this bike. I've been saying for a long time that I was going to powercoat it in... a certain color. But after seeing the pictures I'm not so sure any more.

Let me give you some context. The seatpost will be black, made by Thomson. The stem will probably be black, also Thomson, but there's the possibility of powdercoating it white. The saddle will be white, most likely Fizik, but I might be persuaded to go for a Selle Italia. The fork will be black, probably Alpha-Q, like the one in the picture. The bar tape will be white, probably Fizik microtex. The group is a mix of Campagnolo Chorus and Centaur. The cranks are black. The brake calipers are silver, I think. The pedals will be either Look or Time. It is with much sorrow that I ditch Shimano, the only pedals my shoes have touched since I went clipless, a loooong time ago. But, as you will understand, I can't put a shred of Shimano on this bicycle. The rims, spokes and hubs will be black. I haven't decided the brand and model yet. Schwalbe tires, of course.

Accompanying this beauty, some day in the near future I'll procure a pair of Sidi or Adidas shoes, either black or white.

So, given this choice of colors/components, what's the best chromatic choice for this frame? (All options are on the table, including naked Ti.)

I know that this decision should be based purely on personal aesthetic sensibilities, but sometimes other people's comments help me figure out exactly what I want.