Originally Posted by Andy_K

That was my other main theme, for sure. I saw a comment on the C&V forum recently about not using "nice" components for commuting because you'll wear them out. I mentioned that I have the opposite view because my commuter is the bike that gets ridden most often, so I want nice components on it. Also, the purpose-built rain bike that I started with came with Tiagra components. I planned to use them until they wore out and then upgrade. Well, 5000 miles later they just weren't wearing out (not even the cassette!) and I wanted to switch over to hydraulic brakes so I had to upgrade them before they wore out.