1) Tires are something of an individual preference. wider tires give you better traction under most conditions but they jam up faster with mud. Beware of a lot of small knobs instead of fewer wider spaced knobs. Small knobs will twist and turn and slip out from under you in a turn or under pressure.
If the tires are too wide they jam mud around the cantilevers and the seattube-chainstay intersection and stop you as effectively as holding the brakes on all the way.
If they're too narrow and/or the knobs are very widely spaced the tire will shed mud like gangbusters but it won't get any traction in very soft stuff like thin mud.
2) Old hubs can be OK if you aren't too heavy. But remember that breaking axles was pretty common before cassettes. They didn't go to cassettes for no reason you know. There's another bearing out next to the dropout on the right side. If you have to go to 130 mm hubs be sure and have the rear end properly re-spaced. This isn't hard or expensive but you have to have the correct tools of you can end up breaking even cassette axles.
3) If your present bars are wide enough (the wider the better) it doesn't matter enough to bother. If your knees hit the barend shifters they're too narrow.
4) Not necessarily but barends are better.
5) SpD's are good but Eggbeaters are cheaper. MTB shoes without excessively large knobs (like almost ALL made now) are the trick solution. I don't know who the footwear clowns are but maybe someone should tell them that 2" knobs are like - so center ring.
If you're using 110 BDC cranks use a 34 at least until you've graduated to Class B. By then you'll have learned that it's better than a 38 anyway.
Mount the bars as HIGH as you can get them without breaking the stem or steering tube.
they should be only a bare inch below the saddle. You can get long rise stems from Rivendell easier than anywhere else I've seen though perhaps Sheldon Brown has them as well. He's pretty good at stocking REAL(tm) parts that smart people use.
Use CANTILEVERS and not V-Brakes.
If you intend to race:
Ride the hell out of the bike everywhere on pavement, dirt trails and climb nasty hills and practice portaging the bike A LOT. See if you can get Martin Eadon's "Off The Road" which is a good cyclocross training film that covers the basics such as proper dismounts, basic manuveurs, training practices etc.
Absolutely NOTHING trains you nearly so good as actually racing. Don't be afraid to look silly your first couple of times out and don't try to beat others if you're going to end up passing out on the course or get tunnel vision and crash someone else. If you aren't smart enough to know your limits you might hurt someone else who knows theirs.
If you don't intend to race:
You'll find a cyclocross bike a really fun ride. With knobbies and cantilevers and that muddy fox look no one expects you to go fast on the road so you don't feel competition from geek riders on Operas who think that passing someone on a cyclocross bike with their $10,000 toy makes them better than you. It's a good snicker.
Off road there's no passing traffic except from the occasional first year college geek on a fully suspended mountain bike who believes that his father buying him an $8,000 Yeti with 15 more axles in the suspension than an 18 wheeler means that he's better than you.
You'll find a whole new world of fun where you become your own worst competition. And your own best friend.
Last edited by cyclintom; 05-01-06 at 09:39 PM.