I have size 11 shoes and ride a 58 but should be riding a 56... the chainstays are pretty short on the 1200 though... I attempted to mount my rack on there and not only were there no braze-ons for the top (although that's easy enough to fix... hose clamp from home depot + section of old bike tube) but the first 3-4 inches of the rack sit underneath the saddle. So the panniers I have would be completely unsuited for the task... and I had assumed that new panniers would be too expensive. But looking at Nashbar, I think I could get some cheap enough, or go to the army surplus here and ghetto-rig a map bag.

So I think that's what I'm going to do... that will get me into commuting by bike until I've saved enough money by not owning a car to buy a Raleigh Sojourn or whatever on eBay.

@iBike2: One reason I've ruled out buying a vintage model is that I don't want to have to keep watching eBay for parts that rarely if ever show up, as I have been watching for a seven speed Sora shifter to show up for my 1200. I want to get new kit, so I can at least know that I'll be able to find parts for it. That means at least 9 speed cassettes on whatever bike I get next.