gregw, roosmachine and librarian - you have all made some great points I agree with that I had not thought about. From shifting more with STI and their reliability (my STI's have over 20,000 miles without a hitch or cable break) to the "what if's" with broken bikes or parts and the fact that tandems have been using disc brakes for along time. I did the Ride the Rockies bike tour on a tandem with a blind lady. This is not a loaded tour, but with me being 210 and her being about 180, it sure felt loaded. The bike had bar-end shifters and "no" disc brakes. I would have been alot more comfortable with STI shifters and disc brakes. Your comment about tandems reminded me of going down steep winding Colorado mountain passes praying that the rims wouldn't overheat.

I think I'm convinced that the OCR Touring bike will be right for me and I like the high end gearing because I "do" use every gear and love to go fast.

Librarian, post some pictures when you get your new bike.