I figured I'd check in with an update after I've commuted on this bike for a month.

First, overall I'm pretty happy with the bike. It rides nices, shifts smooth and handles well. My average speeds are about where I expected them to be: faster than my mountain bike but slower than my road bike. I've put somewhere around 350 miles on it.

The stock seat lasted half a commute (butt wise, not quality wise.) The first day I rode to work I was fed up with it by the time I arrived. I went out over lunch to the nearest LBS and bought a replacement. As I noted above I had expected to replace the seat soon so this wasn't a surprise.

After a week of riding the headset started pinging a little. I figured out that the headset had just loosened up a bit. Tightening it back down fixed the issue and it hasn't returned. I'm sure it was just a matter of things settling into place.

The biggest problem I've had is that this week I broke a spoke on the rear wheel and the wheel went horribly out of true. Not owning a cassette removal tool (yet) I took it over to my LBS and had them fix it. The tech told me that the wheel is pretty cheap and has a lot of flex, and me being a bigger guy (200+ lbs) and loading up the rear rack with all my commuting gear was probably over-stressing the wheel. I decided that $20 to have them fix the spoke and retrue the wheel was worth a gamble.

Well, I lost that bet. After I put the wheel back on the bike, I rode about a block and when I turned around another spoke broke and the wheel went out of true again. So it looks like a replacement rear wheel is necessary. I feel the bike is worth the expense, however that does raise the projected cost for anyone else who may purchase this bike, as you may very well run into the same problem if you're a heavier guy like me.

On a different note, does anyone have any opinions on this wheelset? http://www.bicyclewheelwarehouse.com...d&productId=27