Sesty: I lead everyone to believe that, didn't i! The $160 just adds to money and stuff I got from Christmas and my birthday. I've already got the chain and sprockets on hand, got them a long time ago to offset shipping costs. Found a guy to reupholster my seat (he's gonna shave, tuck and roll, and level my original saddle) for under $100. Tires will probably bra t least 160, mirrors... Depends what I get. It'll be a large chunk of money.
Jtheissen and recreatme: I had wondered this myself, and found a thread a while back where people were saying the bikes will last about 25k miles+ with proper maintenance. While I believe this to be true, I think that you could go well beyond that IF you are maintaining it yourself (and with the utmost care). If you are paying someone to do the work, unless you are mr money bags, you will probably have your local mechanic second guessing your dedication to your old cheap bike. These bikes are awesome and love mine, but it seems that shops have no love for them, because if even a minor tune up can surpass the dollar worth of your bike.
From another angle, I think if you aim to make the bike last forever, you can - but it will take very good maintenance, dedication to repair, and an inquisitive nature on your behalf (to suss out potential issues before they cause failures or damage), and some relatively mellow riding (keeping it under 7 as much as possible.)
This is my opinion.
