This is where the great appeal lies in these mid eighties mountain / all terrain bicycles as their design was so versatile; you can run slicks and road gearing as they usually have the chain stay clearance for larger chain rings or run wide knobbies and low gearing for off road riding and everything in between.

The geometry is well suited for road riding and loaded touring and you can run flat bars, drops, or trekking bars and they can handle some pretty rugged terrain due to their robust construction.

Used to ride my Cascade as a stock ATB and could roll with guys riding modern hard tails and full suspension bikes and most often out climb them and destroy them when the road was straight and flat. The lack of bottom bracket clearance was probably the biggest issue when you were trying to clear larger obstacles like logs.

Once upon a time I only owned one bike (shocking huh ?)... a Trek 6700 hard tail which had two sets of wheels so that I could run slicks for commuting and heavier duty wheels and knobbies for off road racing and weekend carnage. Also had a rack and fenders that could be quickly installed / removed much like the current set up on my Moulden.

My primary commuter is my 1987 Kuwahara Shasta which is also tour and trekking worthy and shares the same frame geometry and colour of my Cascade but is fitted with trekking bars and tyres that are better suited for rougher terrain and urban assaults... I have 17 bikes but that Shasta does the lions share of the work around here.