Brews you can use

Since Jess’s Cross-Check was singled, we have a set of bar-end shifters, front and rear derailleurs, and a rear wheel left over. Also, I’ve been feeling the need for a good geared road bike. Hmm, Shifters, derailleurs, rear wheel. Just need a few more parts for a full bike. Let’s see… just need a frame and a front wheel. Oh, and headset, stem, bars, brakes, levers, seatpost, … Darn, that’s most of a bike, isn’t it?

In other words, “If we had ham we could have ham and eggs, if we had eggs.”

That little joke describes so many projects perfectly. I haven’t been able to find a reliable attribution, so it may be a well-known linguistic torture device like “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.”