Touring - Windsor Tourist

I'm thinking o9f getting a Windsor Tourist. This is partly due to the very low price on ebay, and the specification is good. I intend to change the chain wheels to mountain bike specs, and possibly the front deraileur to match. Nevertheless, I see a lot of threads on Surley LHT. Would it be better to get the LHT frame and work up from there? I shall be much obliged for your view, particularly the Windsor Tourist and its frame.

are you talking about the Windsor tourist from Bikes Direct? http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/windsor/tourist.htm
I saw one of these last week while out on a ride. I liked it and the guy riding it was very happy with it. He chose it over a Trek 520, It has a similar package to the trek 520. but $400($500?) less. and only $250 to $300 more than a LHT frame. and like the LHT it comes in your choice of colors just so long as it is green.
A all bright aluminum Sugino xd600 crankset ( less than $100) would look good on that bike and give you low gears down to a 24 tooth granny. Buy the crank the same time as the bike and sell the Truvativ crank as new on Ebay.
BTW you will need to do some cutting and brazing to put 26" wheels on that bike since the brake bosses are brazed on for 700c wheels. If you are touring in North America and Europe 700C wheels should not be a major concern.

This topic has come up before:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=81745

Sincere thanks for all useful information.