Sometime contributor and global tourist Roughstuff used on on his global tour
http://www.cyclingscholar.com/compeq.html

Also used for a circular tour around Australia.
'Dale tourers are strong, tough and well proven over many years. They dont just break and are quite a bit stronger than the lightweight road racing bikes. The extra stiffness of fat tubing is better suited to large sizes.

You cant add or move attatchment points, like you can with steel braze-ons.
Ive never met anyone trust a repair of a lightweight steel tourer to a village blacksmith, more used to fixing agricultural machinery.