I rode 3-4k miles on mine in a year and just sold it to upgrade. I think that the frame is pretty good, actually, and the only real problems I had with it were that the bottom bracket died after about 1k miles, my rear wheel more or less broke at about 1.5k miles and the stock saddle was pretty bad. Other than that I had good experiences. I think that for NYC riding 48/16 is about right. I ride 49/15 now and it is a hair too tall for me.

Good luck!