Well I cheated a bit by starting off with an 07' Jamis Commuter 3.0 which comes equipped with the Nexus 8. Anyhow I really liked Sheldon Brown's Bianchi San Jos8 conversion at Harris Cyclery and thought this would be a quicker route. Since the jamis only cost $561 with tax it left me lots of room to improve and has similar geometry.

The moustache style bars did not work for me so I kept the 25.4 stem and added some 45cm Nitto's wrapped in black Cinelli cork. I don't like the stem but I need these bars high. of course the mountain style levers would not work so I opted for some Tektro aero levers. The bars were only $29.00 and the brakes $25.00 at Velo Orange. Harris also supplies the needed Hubub bar end adapter for the Nexus shifter, only 2 shifters are compatible.

I also dumped the stock saddle for a Brooks B17 on a cheap fixed post instead of the bouncy pogo stick it came with. The stock fenders were junk so I went with silver SKS ones to keep with the black and silver theme throughout the bike. Also dumped the stock Kenda tires after about 1,000 miles and just mounted Schwalbe Marathon Racers going down from 32's to 30's. I know the downhill pedals look strange but I don't like being clipped in and these are nice fat platforms by Crank Brothers with great grip in any kind of shoe. The headlight mount is from Terra Cycle and does a good job of getting the light lower and out of the way.

I did all of the work myself so I think I've got a thousand into this bike? Consider the Commuter as an inexpensive platform to upgrade if you want a drop bar internal hub bike with 700 wheels/ 36 spokes.