I just ordered the 54cm myself to replace a damaged Cross-Check frame, so I'm looking forward to building it up.

MTB components work great with 9sp barcons. I use them with an XT M760 low-normal RD and the indexing is flawless (and hopefully will continue to be so on the new frame).

I also run with drop bars and an Avid BB7 road disc brake on the front (via the Nashbar carbon cyclocross disc fork) and a canti brake on the back. The chunky black fork looks a little weird on a touring bike but the disc is awesome.