That's what I did when I bought my CC. I figured the drivetrain and stock wheels would last at least 5 to 10 thousand miles.

I did upgrade the seatpost and tires immediately to a Salsa Shaft and Panaracer Paselas. The shop gave me credit because I furnished a saddle and pedals.

Great bike; it fit me perfectly.

The stock parts were fine for the 1157 miles I rode it. It was totalled by an insurance company after an accident so I stripped off the derailleurs, replaced the rear wheel and resurrected it as a fixed gear beater.

I did a custom build. I found a 2008 Trek road bike with 105/Ultegra components for $300 and stripped all the parts, then sold the frame/wheels. Ended up with roughly $175 in the parts. Still had to order canti brakes, headset, cables, etc. I did a good bit of bargain hunting. I'm guessing I have about $800 in the bike as she sits.

http://www.watsonfx.com/surly1.jpg

I got a complete LHT with the heavier wheels, 36spoke and Alex Adventurer rims. I think the CC comes with 32 and a slightly lighter/narrower Alex rim. Either way the wheels I got on the LHT were true and even tensioned. I used to own a shop and have built a fair number of wheels. IMHO it's always worth having a spare set of wheels. When I got a CC I transfered all the components from the stock LHT over to it. Rode it for awhile with 38t middle chainring, chainguard in outer ring and 11-34 cassette with the stock wheels. Later turned the front into a double with 44/30 chainrings with outer chainguard and narrow cassette, now it's got 34/48 and narrow cassette but I'm thinking of going back to the 44/30 or 44/28. On a triple crank with outer position taken by the chainguard it gives me a "big" ring that can run the entire cassette for 95% of my riding with the inner ring the bailout gear.
One thing I didn't like about the Adventurer rims is the milling on the braking surface, it made it easy for grit to get caught in the pads and dig further in the rims. I sanded the rims down with 320grit to take some of that off. Not sure if the rims on the Cross-Check are similar but for stock wheels on a mid priced bike they're very good.
I had PW build up some Velocity Synergy rims for it but I'm really not that impressed by them. The seam is noticable , the front is unacceptably grabby and after putting the front wheel in a bike rack, only to fall over and put a 1mm wobble in the rim I'm going to rebuild it with a heavier rim, maybe a 719.
If I was in your shoes I'd get a fancy spare rear wheel and just change tires on the front for changes in use/conditions. Rear rims go long before front ones. If you can't have fun, win a race, cross the country or scramble up over a ravine with the stock gear you won't with gear costing five times as much.

I bought a complete nearly 2 years ago. My wheelset has seen plenty of abuse, and they are still true as can be. The crank seems fine. The brakes aren't the best, but some proper tuning and brake pads made a big difference. The stock saddle was torture. A Brooks was fitted on day one. The complete is a solid value and it's plenty reliable. Upgrade when/if things break.

I've changed: Saddle (Brooks Imperial), Seapost (Easton EA70), Stem (Bontrager), Handlebars (Salsa Woodchipper), Shifters (Ultegra STI), Brake Pads (KS Salmon), Tires (Schwalbe Marathon Cross), Cassette (11-28).

I've added: Tektro Cross Levers, Front and rear racks, fenders, lights, etc.

Next upgrade will be conversion to triple, using the stock crank.

That is sharp.

I agree that the stock brakes are junk. Even with KS Salmon pads, I'm not a fan of any low profile cantis.
The stock drivetrain isn't bad. The Tiagra derailleurs are durable and reliable; 3 years later and I'm still running the stock front and the shifters (which are DA barends.)
The crank is OK if they're still stocking the FSA Vero, but I did wear it out pretty quickly and it developed a wobble at the spindle, necessitating its replacement. This took about 7000 miles to do.
The stock wheels are actually pretty nice, IMO. The DA16 rim is the same profile as a DT RR1.1 (RR465 now) and with nothing more than a quick tensioning when I got them, the rear lasted me until I nearly wore through the brake surface. I still have the front as a project rim for another build.

you can spec a whole up market priced group and loose a lot of sales too.
the parts pick, by the product managers, is why the price is what it is.

couple of questions...
How hilly is your area?
Do you want drops or some sort of moustache/north road bars?
STI/ergos or barcons or downtube shifters?
friction or indexed?

I have a stock one but replaced the following:
vo porteur bar/stem
tektro silver cr720
suntour friction levers mounted to some shimano barcon pods
brooks b17
will probably get some paselas or marathons, hammered fenders, front/rear rack of some sort


my 2nd is a hodge-podge of parts:
tektro cr720/oryx with koolstop salmons
ultegra crank with 39t/bashguard
stock salsa bar/stem/seatpost
old tiagra rear derailleur
campy ergo 9 speed
ugly front cantilever mount rack and wald basket zip tied to it

It's flatter than flat around here, unless I load the bike up and drive a few hours away. I might end up doing that from time to time, so a good range of gears would be nice.

I like drop bars and I've only used brifters on the Randonee, so going to bar ends would be something new.

Took the plunge last weekend and bought a 54cm Surly Cross Check. I had to drive 2 hours to take it for a test ride and was sold within a few minutes of rolling around the parking lot. I'm glad I took my Brooks saddle and had them put it on before going for the ride. Very comfortable. That's the good news...

The bad news: the company I work for shipped me to Mexico for two weeks and I didn't get a chance to ride it yet. I wish I could have brought it along because it's been 75 to 80 and sunny every day this past week. Bah!

I've been in contact with Joe Young and he gave me a price on building up some wheels. I'm looking at some Phil Wood chrome hubs, black DT spokes, black Mavic A719 rims and silver nipples. That would look fairly sharp with the black frame, and be a solid wheelset to boot. Might be considered overkill, but that's what I want. I definitely need to work on the brakes at some point as well, but I'll deal with that after I figure out the wheels. Can't do much about it until I get back.

Anyway, I'm off to use the four most useful words that I was taught before flying down: Dos cervezas, por favor!

¡Felicitación de México!