Many thanks, I finished the tour last Wednesday, 761 miles in 10 days and 29000 feet of climbing. More a blast through France than a tour

Its the 2008 version and in the UK it came with V brakes. I have upgraded them to Avid single digit fives. The bike is my commuting bike but I have done 3 tours on it. The triple is indeed a regular road triple 30/39/50 upgraded from the stock version, the cassette is standard 9 speed. I certainly used that granny gear but coped fine with the set up!

I changed the stem to a specialized comp at 24 degrees and have my Brooks Team pro on there.

I have found it handles better when loaded with 4 panniers rather than 2, my total weight of panniers and tent was 20 kg or 44 pounds.

Reference the rear wheel you mention. The original wasnt up to the job and I suffered broken spokes on a previous tour so I replaced it with a 36 spoke Mavic open pro. As I said I use the bike for commuting so still wanted something light. I did have problems however. For this tour I purchased some Schwalbe Marathon 308's 28mm to replace my 25mm Bontragers. I suffered 3 blow outs. Still open to debate but these tyres went on to easily and in my opinion were too big for the rim despite the rim stating it could take 28mm!

My intention is to build a Surly LHT when funds allow. The Tricross is a decent all rounder but in truth I really want something more solid for touring. It did a job for me and I will continue to use it for commuting and the odd light tour.

cheers