I noticed in the new Nashbar catalog that arrived this week that they have some smokin' deals on Shimano XT MTB cranksets, cassettes and rear derailleurs that would go nicely in a touring bike build.

I think I read somewhere else that Shimano is introducing a new MTB group (10-speed?) this Fall, so maybe they are starting to close out the current line. In any case, I was thinking that if I were building a bike right now I'd check those out...

(no connection to Nashbar)...