Of course! I'm massively excited for my first build.

Thanks everyone for such helpful replies. ClemY I know exactly what you mean...it seems a law of touring that the day ALWAYS ends with the steepest hill. My lowest gearing would be 18 inches which is considerably better than my current tourer. Probably still not enough to get up some of the hills on the Lon Las Cymru though!

After a few discussions with friends and on another forum I am considering stretching my budget to get Surly's Disc Trucker frameset rather than the Kaffenback for a couple of reasons: I'm wondering whether I ought to go with 26 inch wheels for strength and choice of parts (Surly does a 26 inch frame); and the tyre clearances on the Disc Trucker are much more generous than the Kaff (the latter is limited to about 35mm/1.4 inch). However, it is an extra £100 and an extra half kilo or so...does anyone have any experience of comparisons between the two?