Hello, I've spent the past few years mountain biking, but now I am looking for a bike a can use to cover the distance to work fast (with occasional pothole) and let me play on light trails on the weekends.

I am currently considering building up a Surly cross-check frame. I am rather naive when it comes to road/cross components though and I am looking for durability/longevity of components, not the lowest weight, and I don't want to get hosed on $$.

1) I like the idea of brifters but am worried of easily breaking them in a fall in the woods. Is it better to go with the cheaper/more protected bar-end shifters with the traditional brake levers?

2) For componentry, at what point (tiagra, 105, ultegra, dur-ace) do you start paying more for weight (at the loss of strength) as opposed to increased performance. I liked the SRAM Rival series as well and was wondering how people thought they stacked up against the comparable shimanos.

3) I was considering switching in a Dimension cross fork so I can but a Avid BB7 disc brake on the front (leave the canti on the back). I originally road a mtn bike with v-brakes and once I got disc I swore I would never go back.

4) I'm 70" and 155#, so I don't expect to be destroying wheelsets, but I want to get something that won't taco or bend if I hit something hard. I have seen people post about Mavic cxp 33, but again am I paying for weight there over the cxp-23 or comparable other items


All that said, I recently found the lemond poprad disc, and figured that may be a better bike for approximately the same cost after the build up.

Thanks for any advice/experiences/horror-stories you can give me.