[Clean39T]

Alrighty, so...

If you want titanium and discs, and you're willing to put out the cash, I'd say go for it. There has been a step-change forward in holistic design evolution for a certain segment of bikes, and at this point, I don't think the value is there in the used market just yet. For example, most of the used titanium bikes you find right now are rim-brake and relatively narrow in the tire clearance, or if they are disc, they are quick-release and post mount. If what you are wanting is a do-it-all road bike (commuting and fast road rides), you're probably better off going new right now so you get: thru-axles, wide tire clearance, flat-mount discs, integrated fender mounts, etc. For where you are in the sport, going new and getting things right the first time is the easiest place to be. Sure, you'll lose some depreciation, but when it's your only bike and you plan to pile up miles on it, that's not such a big deal.

Not that I wouldn't encourage the opportunity to tinker with older stuff, I just think that can come down the road once you have your main needs met. There's no shortage of 5-20yr old titanium frames out there that are fun to build up and ride the he11 out of - and plenty of parts and wheels to experiment with, all with little out-of-pocket risk given where they are in their depreciation curve. That isn't where I'd go first though. If there's one mistake I've made (or one lesson I could have learned earlier) it's that it is very helpful to have an anchor-bike in the garage - something that doesn't change even as you experiment with other stuff. This is a perfect way to get yourself setup for the "want to try crits" part of your experimentation. CAT-V crit races at PIR and elsewhere are fun (dangerous, but fun). And you don't need anything too special for that - pick up a road-race frameset of semi-recent vintage, a used 10spd group, used 10spd tubulars, etc., and you'll have a machine that's plenty fast for under $1K that you can bang around, train on, etc. You don't need disc brakes and 32c tire clearance for that, so piecing one together can be really cheap. Join OBRA. Check out their classifieds.. We can work on this part down the road.

So, getting back to the original questions, what should be that "one bike"???

If it's Litespeed you want, go for it!

The T3 Disc is a great looking bike. So is the T5 and so is the T2. But none of those are necessarily fire-road bikes, or perfect commuters (yes, you can commute on them, and one of us here does commute on his T2, on tubulars no less, but for the rest, it's a stretch).

If I were you, I'd look at the Cherohala SE. It has a bit taller stack and shorter reach than the road-disc frames. It has fender mounts and clearance for wider tires. Flat-mount discs. And you're not giving up anything in terms of weight on it, except compared to the T2. It's not a bike for racing crits, but I think it's a perfect bike for the rest of your riding - cruising into deep SE (Estacada, Molalla, Sandy, Mt. Hood), far Northwest (Skyline out to all the climbs, fire-roads out to Scappoose and Vernonia and beyond), far Southwest (wine country and into Tillamook Forest), up around St. Helens and Mt. Adams, Central Oregon, etc. That bike will take you everywhere, be reasonably fast, and still feel fine banging through broken pavement on your commute. You could get one really nice carbon tubeless wheelset for fun rides, and one cheaper bang-around wheelset for during the week.

If it were me, and if I had no funds constraints, I'd go for either Di2 or eTap hydro - because the levers are so much nicer than the mechanical hydro levers from either company. Short reach, flared drops for bars. And Compass tires run tubeless on a mid-depth, wide carbon wheelset.

If you liked your experience at WesternBikeWorks, go in there when it isn't busy, and talk to them about putting together your "dream bike" - get an estimate, then do some hunting on your own and go back to them with a price that's reasonable and works for both of you. Once you're in their "club", you get unpublished pricing. And they really are a good company and good group of folks to get to know, ride with, etc. At this point in your riding life, that's worth more than saving $200 by buying from a wholesaler operating out of their basement...

Whew, that's enough for now. If we're both around this weekend and you want to ride your current one out to a cafe meetup, let me know. I'm probably doing a solo-century on Saturday, so Sunday AM will just be coffee and spinning out the legs.