One more newbie question
 

Dumb question here - If I were to replace my back wheel with a regular road style wheel - would it do anything to help performance?

Greg
Optima Lynx

What style wheel do you have now? What do you mean by "road style wheel"? If you're talking about a larger diameter wheel, it probably won't work; most frames, of any style, are built around particular wheel diameters. If your bike currently has a rather chunky tire, and you want one with more of a road tread, yes, I would think that would improve performance.