1 - I'd go with a new bike - after market parts are pricey and at the price range you are looking at I would that the buying power of a large company for buying components in bulk would make your money go farther.
2 - I stayed the same size on my bike - no problems either.
3 - at $1K you would be well advised to go with a hard tail - a sub $1K full suspension bike will be heavy and the moving parts will wear out quickly
4 - I demo'd a 29'er before building my bike and opted for the 26'er because of all the climbing in CO. I'm a smaller guy and the 29'er wheels didn't feel right for me on long climbs. The lighter 29'er wheels won't be in your budget. On the flip side, I can't really imagine buying a 26'er hardtail now a days either because of the ride quality difference.

Here's an article on sub $1000 29'ers: http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/article/best-mountain-bikes-under-1000-30433/

• sleeping bag - mountain hardware phantom http://www.mountainhardwear.com/Phantom™-45-%28Regular%29/OU8488,default,pd.html
• gas tank - revelate designs https://www.revelatedesigns.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=store.catalog&CategoryID=2&ProductID=3
• stove - esbit fuel and a few rocks to balance pot on - I use cold food for racing http://www.rei.com/product/653344/esbit-solid-fuel-tablets?preferredSku=6533440019&cm_mmc=cse_froogle-_-pla-_-product-_-6533440019&mr:referralID=9fd6711e-70de-11e2-97b3-001b2166becc
• advice - think less, just go do it and have fun
• food - http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,63.0.html

While I don't own the hoops you are talking about I can compare rim width's with rims that I do own.  Your flow's should have a 28mm width, and a pair of Sun Ringle ADDs that I have are 30mm. I've run 2.7'' tires without any problems, but they are downhill specific.  I've never heard of anyone running 2.7s on a trail bike, so I'd suppose that 2.5s would fit just fine on your flow's. But it's pretty rare to need/want a tire that wide on a trail bike. What are you planning on doing with your fat rubber?

I broke my clavicle in 2 places (compound fracture) and didn't have insurance, so no surgery for me, just a butterfly harness. It took 6 weeks for the floating bone fragment to heal into place and another 8-10 weeks before I was 100%.  Now I have fancy bump on my clavicle that pack straps rub on.  Thankfully over the years the point has rubbed down and basically doesn't bother me much anymore.

Good for you for getting yourself out of your own challenges, muy responsable mi amigo!  You can read about my OTB experience on the ctr here http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,2502.0.html. There's no shame in listening to your body and letting it heal.  Just make sure it's your body talking and not your brain.

Just asked my co-worker when the light would in - he said "sometime spring". 

A co-worker ordered either the 10 or the 20, not really sure which, but before he received it there was a recall on them. They didn't say what the problem was but that was almost 2 moths ago and he still hasn't received it yet.  So, it might take some time before we here any real life reviews.

X-alps are Shimano Pedal Dynamics (SPD) compatible and I believe the specification require 20mm of fore/aft positioning. As for width I couldn't find any specifics on the pearl izumi web site, but from personal experience, my feet are not wide and the shoes fit well.  So, I'm guessing they wouldn't fit extra wide feet well, but I would just try them on.  I've never worn SIDIs, so I can't really compare.

The part name for the ss setup is called a single speed tensioner. Here's one example: http://labs.yesspro.com/products/etr-v

As for lube, finish line dry lube has worked well for me, though most dry lunes that I have used have work well too. The only exciting being wax based lubes because they ball up below freezing.

For what it's worth the 2010 Mavic freehub on the crosstrail's has more or less worked for the last two years for me.  I was running a 30T chainring and a 12x36 cassette for the first year and then switched to a 32T chainring after switching to the E13 singlespeed cranks. The 30T chainring didn't fit well because the bolt tabs were just a little to long and the chain would hit them. I did have to rebuild the freehub last week because of too much slop in the freehub. It only cost $16 for a new delrin ring and some mineral oil from hub doctor and after a couple hour ride this weekend it seems to be just fine.  From what I've read it seems like I should of been doing the maintenance every 500 miles or so.  I probably had upwards of 4000 miles on it.  And by maintenance I mean just taking the freehub apart, cleaning and lubing it. If I had been doing that I wonder if I would of needed the new bushing?  So, from my experience, the mavic freehub is up to the task of a 36T cog too.

Nice call on the GoGo! For me, higher quality seems to be more important then lots of sleep. That's why I went with a full length sleeping pad too. I'm using the same mentality of making up for the extra weight in other areas too.

The Rab bivy has always looked like a great piece of gear to me. Let us know how you like it!

On another note, one tent that recently caught my eye for wet weather is the MSR Carbon Reflex. You can use it with just the poles/floor/rain-fly and the weight comes in at 688g. Not too shabby for all that room. I'd like to set the tent up in a store and see what it's like

I hear you pickupel on not wanting to setup a tarp at the end of a big day.  That's why the tarp is such a great option, I don't set it up unless I need to, choosing instead to just crash in the bivy most nights. My bivy is the Titanium Goat Ptarmigan and weighs 206g with bug netting and stuff sack. My tarp is 210g. While set up is a pain, I'm very thankful to be able to get out of the rain and still have some workable space without condensation issues.  Plus my tarp is is also a poncho so if I get stuck in a hour long down pour I can get some quick shelter too while waiting out the storm! But if I was expecting lots of rain on a race I think I would just opt for a small ultralight double wall tent.

Have any of you guys raced the Tour Divide, or raced for longer than a week in changing conditions? 

I spent a little over 8 days on the CTR. Had 3 nights of rain, one pretty bad. I used an ultralight non-waterproof, but breathable and bug-proof bivy with a mylar bivy sack for the rain.  The mylar bivy basically failed for me because of the massive amounts of condensation. My current setup is the same ultralight bivy with a tarp.

I would probably make my choice based on the expected weather.  If it's looking to be a wet race, I would probably opt for the gogo.  If it's looking to be drier I would go with msr. I'm fine with being wet and cold for extended periods of time, say 7-10 days depending on temps, anything more then that and I want a little more protection to make eating/dressing/undressing/gear-organization easier.

On a personal note, none of the bivies that I have owned are really convenient to work in, they just aren't big enough.  And if you find a bivy that is big enough the weight is so high that the weight to space ratio of an ultralight tent crushes the bivy for convenience. I would take your TDR kit and go to a shop and get in both bivies and try to dress/undress/organize-gear and see for yourself what you prefer.  Think about doing these activities while it's raining out.

Good luck!

Thanks 

Any word on starting date yet?

Has anyone ever used these bags:  http://www.ovejanegrathreadworks.com/index.html?

I've been learning about Ti recently.  From what I've been able to gather it's a rather attractive material.  It's light, strong, doesn't corrode much, and is flexible in the right places and stiff in the right places.  The downsides seem to be price and manufacturing challenges. Maybe someone here that works with the material can add some light, but from what I've read when frame failures occur it tends to be because of manufacturing.  In other words, welds that for one reason or another aren't perfectly clean? or perfectly welded? And since almost all Ti frames are hand built, there's a lot of opportunity for mistakes. Check out this thread for some additional thoughts http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=2376.0;wap2

Personally I'm a full suspension guy, so aluminum is perfect for me. I commute on a fully rigid steel single speed and love it for commuting, but would hate it on any trail. From many hours of reading TDR blogs though, it's pretty clear most (if not all) folks are on hardtails. Some opt for a thudbuster to help smooth things out. Lots of folks on carbon forks too, while they don't offer any vertical shock absorption, apparently they offer fore-and-aft dampening and this works out well on chattery dirt roads.  

Here's a list of bikes from 2010 http://tourdivide.org/blog2010/riders_their_bikes_due_popular_request

Here's some pics from 2 weeks ago, enjoy!

I'm in the process of fixing the link - looks like my payment on the server expired... I updated it so hopefully they will turn it back on soon.