Cool, but not really

It's safe to say that everybody wants their bike to look cool. Even those who say they don't care about it (Brady) think their bike looks cool while it sits there not worrying about being cool.

I am no different — I like having a cool bike. That's not to say I've always had a cool bike, but I've done OK. Various flavors of Madones, a couple of Cronusauruses, an Ion, TT bike, Felt, old Bianchi. It's been like a chop shop at times, but without the crime.

By and large, the paint on all of this bikes has been of the gloss variety — a nice clear coat on top of usually good-looking paint. The paint on the Ion and last two Madones was among the best I've seen — anywhere. Bright, sharp colors, good attention to detail.

And then comes the Cronus. The top-end model of the Cronus CX has had matte paint of some sort since its introduction in 2011. That version had a matte-satin sort of finish. The 2012 version took a bit of the shine away. And the 2013? Not a single bit of gloss involved anywhere. 

While it looks cool cleaned up and on a stand, it's a pain in the ass to keep clean. The matte finish is a dust magnet, and even when you think you have it clean, you don't. See?

I spent a good deal of time yesterday cleaning my bike. This is the end result. More work is needed, apparently.

Mark waxed his to help keep mud from sticking. I should probably do that, too, since Mark is usually right ( just ask him). What's strange, though, is that the second-tier Cronus builds have gloss finishes. Same frame, just different paint and finish. The downside is that they're ugly as hell. 

So, easy to clean but ugly or cool-looking but a pain to keep tidy? OK, I'm vain. I'll take the latter and keep grumbling.