Touring - Surly Cross Check

Hi All-

I'm moving to morocco and intend to do a lot of extended touring. I'm much more comfortable with road geometry, and so I'm thinking about getting the Surly Cross Check; it seems very sturdy, reasonably light and multipurpose. Does anyone own one of these framesets? how well can one carry loads on it?

Thanks,

Cameron

The Crosscheck is a great bike and it can easily handle a full touring load. It really isn't "road geometry" though. I was using my Crosscheck as a do anything bike but I recently got a Cannondale System Six and the difference between the two bikes on the road is pretty significant. The Cannondale feels like a Ferrari when I am flying downhill around corners and the Crosscheck felt more like a Jeep (it also gets me up the hills a lot quicker as well). Then again, I'd never take the Six off road but the Surly could handle mountain bike trails if necessary. The Surly Pacer is more of a real road bike, but I'm not sure how well it rides loaded up with gear.

Thanks - this was helpful. I'm looking for something that can be used both on and off road. Just curious - when I said "road geometry", I meant something like "closer to road than mtb" - is this incorrect?