Oooh, I love seeing other people's bicycles! Such a personal glimpse into the soul of the owner. Take Perfecting_Zero's pedals for instance: platforms with enough surface area to throw a decent party!
The fact that he consciously chose these...things...over clipless offers a good starting point for assessing his mental health state.
Nah, I like your bike okay, Perfecting_Zero. LeMond make great frames of course, with lovely classic proportions and design elements. The ride quality of a steel bike is unbeatable until you hit the first hill that needs the small ring. I'm no fan of reflectors in the spokes though. "An ounce off the wheels is a pound of the bike" and all that.
AWR: looking forward to seeing this BMC dream machine. I didn't know BMC made mountain bikes. I vaguely remember you were thinking of getting an American handmade bike. Did that change for practical reasons (e.g. availability in Switzerland) or did you just change your mind?
ThunderPoit: start by definitely getting a helmet. I can't even sit on my bike without a helmet because it feels so wrong (like driving without a seatbelt: that naked feeling). Helmets vary in aesthetics, protection and price. My favourite for the past couple of years has been the
Catlike Whisper, a Spanish helmet that looks funky and offers plenty of ventilation air flow. It's not the most aerodynamic helmet on the market but that's not so important if you're not racing or doing time trials.
By the way, shaving your legs is not optional! You know you want to. Gives you an edge in the bluffing stakes, too.