Hey so here's my new Bike

Ta-Da!!!

Features Include!

Sexy Aluminum Alloy frame!
Sexy V-Brakes!
Sexy Bontrager Hardcase 700x32mm Racing Tires! (Whatever that means!)
Sexy Jingle bell thingy!!

And let's not forget the sexiest component of all, the strapping Irish lad perched atop it.

It's a Trek 7.3 FX, which is, in Trek's view, a "Hybrid Fitness/Road Bike". Basically this is the third best kind of bike to take out on a cross-continent trek like I intend to. The first two best are, in order:

#1. A dedicated touring bike. These include the Bianchi Volpe, REI Randonee Navarro, and of course the fan favorite Trek 520. I ruled out these bikes for a few reasons. They're built from all steel, heavy-ass frames. While this makes them more reliable and comfortable, it'd slow me down. My mileage goal is fairly agressive, so I needed a bike trending a bit more towards the "speed" side of the bar graph. Also the cheapest ones were 1000 bucks. That was a bit expensive for my tastes. Although touring can be done best on one of these, they're hardly the ONLY option. My way is much cheaper and will, again, supposedly get me there faster at the expense of a bit of comfort.

#2. An old mountain bike frame stripped down to the frame and re-built with better components. I avoided this option for a few reasons. I wanted to be fitted to a specific size and style of frame, which you can't do when buying used. I also would be leery of any used frame, if it'd been crashed it could crap out on me a week before I leave, or worse, while I'm in the middle of desert. I probably could have saved a few bucks going this way as well, but in the end I just wanted something new. Not the best excuse, but there it is.

So there she is. There's some things to be done to it before she's ready for touring.

Critical:

1. New Wheels (The ones on this bike are decent, but I need hand-built eXXXtreme 36 spoke beasts for maximum reliability on this trip)
2. New Front Crank (Current one bottoms out at 24 gear inches. To get up the evil, blighted Rocky Mountains while fully loaded I'm going to need 19-20, minimum.)
3. Bar Ends (Flat bar bike = no hand positions to switch to)
4. Racks front and rear
   

Would be good:

1. New Saddle
2. New Shifters
3. New Brakes
4. New Tires

Will probably do, but not a big deal either way if not replaced:

1. New Front Derailer
2. Switch to 9 speed cassette

All told with all of those new components, I probably WILL end up spending close to 1,500 on this thing when all is said and done, but that's fine. When changed out this will be a great, fast touring bike, but in the meantime it's also a nice FAST commuting bike when equipped as-is.

(Editor's note: Hey wait a sec, cross country trek! And I'm on a Trek bike! Now I get it! Haha, awesome!!!)