I actually have this bike so I can answer all your questions. As a previous poster mentioned, the wheels are not the greatest and are on the heavy side. However, the stock tires (Schwalbe Marathon Plus) are practically bulletproof so you don't really have to worry about flats. For long rides this bike is great as it has a longer than average headtube (slightly more upright position) and wheelbase (slightly smoother ride). The tiagra setup works well and the gearing (52/40/30 x 12-26) is low enough to handle pretty much anything. Through a combination of sales and performance point deals, I was able to get this bike at about 65% of msrp and at that price I feel I got a good deal. If you can't find a similar deal, you may want to check out the used market or other brands as mentioned above. I think Schwinn gets a bad rap because they sell crap bikes at x-mart stores and people think they are the same as the lbs level bikes. At the price point I would say they are near the top of the bang for the buck list.