I was leaning on the side of buying a bare frame and building up the bike component by component, but after reading a bit more I'm starting to wonder if I should go with a complete bike and replace components one at a time. Or, buy the frame and a 2nd bike with better components as crdean1 did. I'm not thrilled about having to sell parts as I replace them, but I could at least ride the bike while I'm saving up for each upgrade.

If I were to go the complete route, then a trip to the bike shop is in order. As far as I know, the closest Surly dealer is about an hour and a half away. I'm going to make a call to see if they have any complete cross checks on hand.

My girlfriend also thinks I'm nuts for not wanting the robins egg blue, which I have to say is starting to grow on me...