I'm just wrapping up my second touring build after wearing out the crank bearing stays in my last one. This latest build is a steel frame Giant. I put aluminum wheels, aluminum seat post with a modern light weight saddle. The bike came with flat bars and those never fit my frame well so I replaced them with some super light weight aluminum bars from Sunlite. I put on some cheap Bell comfort tires and will upgrade those soon as it's tough to make good speed on soft 26" tires. The bike weighs I guess around 30lbs. but you'd never know riding it as it feels very light and stiff. It climbs hills effortlessly but again, not blindingly fast. On my racer I usually keep a 15-17mph average while on my commuter 12-15 average. In the future, I would like to find a 1"stem, carbon fiber fork for cantilever brakes and 26"wheel.