Thanks for all the recommendations guys. Dan Burkhart: I'd love to see that build when you're finished with it.

One thing I still haven't been able to understand: Can I use in-line brake levers with center-pull U-brakes? I can't find any info on this online, though these Paul's mention working for center-pull, but looking at it mechanically I can't see how it would work. (I guess that's offtopic so I could also make that question another thread.)