I had just run across the Burley Runabout today and was impressed that it had all of the rack mounts and steel frame that I was interested in. There doesn't seem to be many steel framed production mountain bikes around, much less with rack mounting points. There are more such choices in the touring catagory (I like the LHT, Mercian, Atlantis kind of style with 26" tires) but I don't know how much they would limit the off-pavement travel. I figured that it would be less expensive to get a "production" bike and retrofit with couplers than a custom bike, but I could be wrong there. I don't need anything super-fancy but don't want to skimp, either. I live in Bob Brown vicinity, by the way, but that would be in the super-fancy camp from what I've seen of your rig!