Originally Posted by Mike Cavanaugh
I guess the way to go is to have those old style shifters with the levers at the end of the drop bars?
"old style"?? Some of us would take exception to that...
Your (original) post is bringing out the best of admiration and envy on this board. As you can tell, professing "this trip has given my life direction" means you're now a full-fledged member of the touring community. Welcome!!!
It's good you've given yourself a lot of time to research bikes and setups. Since you've got the time, I suggest you search threads here over the past year or so -- all your questions (which bike, which shifters, trailer/panniers, fenders, etc.) have got a ton of responses. The advantage is that you'll get a broad survey of opinions and understand the arguments on both sides. There's a lot of wisdom here. Some people don't post all the time, for every thread, and it's valuable to see their past responses.
On top of that, you gotta suffer from an overload of information, just like the rest of us
If you can narrow down your basic requirements (such as "low cost", or "will be used for an eventual round-the-world tour", etc.), you can filter out a lot of info. You've already done some of this, planning for road-only, camping, etc.
Originally Posted by Mike Cavanaugh
Can you name some particular manufacturor / model frames i should consider? I would prefer to build the bike myself piece by piece, but I can only imagine that it will be an expensive way to do it! If there is a particular frame make / model you recomend, do you know of somewhere I can order just the frame???
Ahh, now you're talking. Surly Long Haul Trucker (LHT). Do a search!! You can't beat the feeling of riding cross-country on a bike you built up yourself.
Impressed by the planning you've done for yourself and your family. That's how dreams become reality.
-- Mark