Originally Posted by
cabledawg
The 18 spd gearing (still need to measure the inch gears) will suffice however I plan to replace the grip shifters to rapid fire thumb shifters. I had planned to replace the V pull brakes with cross pull brakes, but after adjustment, they seem to working just fine so I'll leave those for now. I'm also going to install some chain tubes to help reduce the slapping from the really long chain length.
Oh oh! It sounds to me like you've caught the "CBT" (compulsive bike tinkerer) disease.
I recognize the symptoms because I've got it too. There's no known cure and it can be a lot of fun.
Buying a new high end bike certainly won't cure it, the cost of parts to improve it just goes up. I think that you've found perfect bikes for you and your intended use. Have fun with them and post back when you find an issue that you can't figure out how to solve.