King, sorry to hijack the thread as well as revive an older thread, but I am doing exactly what you had planned on my Trel 7200. Also sorry to hear about your loss. For the money they are great bikes. So far I have swapped out the 700X35's for Michelin 700X28's, had the suspension fork replaced with a solid aluminum fork and swapped out the suspension seat post for a solid one. It has made the bike lighter and noticeably faster. I have a seat post rack and trunk on the way from Nashbar. I too have never been on a tour, but have plans on going from Omaha to Des Moines in 09.