Yep...Anyone have a bearing failure on tour? If I leave L.A. and head east,I'll need to servive my hubs when I get to China on my world tour,chances are I'll need a break by then anyways,it'll keep me from roaming the streets at night.

And you sure don't need to spend $350 on a rear hub so you can repair a broken spoke,you can do that for a $1.50 without removing anything,even the wheel if you have too.

All of the bling stuff is great if you want it,but it's not really needed to have a trustworthy touring bike.

In 35 years and Lord knows how many miles,I've had one major failure,I broke a rear hub in half.This was in the days of freewheels and before I knew about bending axles.Hubs can only take so much bending.....Even with a broken hub I rode it about 20 miles to get to the next town to buy a new hub.

Just get what you like,make sure it is of decent quality and you'll be fine.

You can assemble a REALLY NICE bicycle for $3000! ,a couple of them.Go for it and have fun.