New cross bike

Yeah, yeah, it's been "awhile" since I've posted anything. I'm not gonna make any excuses or bore you with non biking details of my life. But, on the biking tip, I got out this past Saturday for a ride on my new cross bike. It's an Opus Stelle that I picked up waaaaaaaaay back in June, just before my injury. So for 3 months, I've had a brand new bike hanging up in the basement, just begging to be ridden. Saturday, I mounted some 28c slicks and then mounted the bike for a quick ride. I was hoping that this bike would reduce road chatter compared to my previous cross bike due to the addition of carbon seatstays. Overall, the ride quality isn't as smooth as say, my road bike, and marginally better than my previous full aluminum cross bike. The other key selling point(s) for me was the parts spec. If I find myself not completely happy with the frame, I can see myself sometime in the future upgrading to a different frame and fork, and keeping all of the components. Upgrades compared to my previous cross bike are:

NEW BIKE                                      OLD BIKE
Aluminum with carbon seatstays     Full aluminum frame
Ultegra Drivetrain                          105 drivetrain
FSA Team Issue Carbon Crank         FSA Gossamer alloy crank
Mavic Ksyrium Equipe wheels          Mavic Aksium wheels
TRP Euro-x brakes                         Tektro brakes
Vittoria Cross XG folding tires         Vittoria Cross XG wire bead tires
Selle Italia SL saddle                       Selle Italia ????? saddle

Opus Spark, good while I had it.

Opus Stelle. Pretty sweet upgrades. Got rid of the pizza platter behind the cassette. Not sure how much this bike weighs, but using the good ol' lift it up and bounce it in my hands technique, it's a hell of a lot lighter than the Spark

My first ever carbon crank....pimp!

White wheelset, also pimp!