Did you ever tell us this is what you were going to do? I don't remember seeing that and I would have remembered.
You mean about purchasing it? Yes, I created a thread asking for suggestions and one or two people recommended the Escape 1. It was in my price range, and it fit with what I had in mind. Plus, you mentioned how smooth the shifting was (which is butter-smooth I might add) and that helped my decision as well.
As a side note, can you see all the brake residue on the rims? That created a lot of squealing. I was thinking this might be normal wet weather break-in (?), but I may still upgrade the pads later on.