No1mad says:
Something just struck me that probably be worth considering- the weight off the
bike. And another reason to opt for a backpack over panniers for the commute,
anyway. And why is that you ask? Take a look at the pics in the OP. He's
planning on cutting across pasture land. Which means unless he obtains a key to
gates from the property owner(s), he's gonna have to lift that bike up over a
barbed wire fence or the metal gate. And the backpack lends itself to fence
jumping than panniers do.
Well it's certainly not advisable to be cutting across any privately owned property. It just might be owned by the McCoy's or the Hatfield's.
He might want to rethink that move. Also, we're not certain that the property is completely enclosed and secured. There might not even be a "gate". Many country fences have been cut somewhere along their perimeter, over the years. Most fences aren't well maintained, unless there's livestock involved. Whatever the case may be, he should avoid fence jumping and climbing.
Concentrate on what works for the commute. The commuter can be pressed into a
weekend tourer- and rereading the OP, sounds like he'd more likely ride through
a National Park than go cruise Rt. 66...
The OP states that he would like to do a century over a two-day period somewhere far away, perhaps in some National Park, using the services of Greyhound or Amtrak. While the OP could easily use a MTB, once there, the problem that the OP was trying to avoid, was the loading and unloading of a large bike on trains and buses.
Now that we've passed that juncture, he can more easily enjoy his MTB by cruising the rural rarely explored countrysides and the more local parks within his own region.
At least the OP does have a budget where he can obtain something a bit lighter
than entry level as far as the mtb's go, though if taking weight into
consideration, he may want to reconsider a dual sport hybrid.
I'd rather see him going all out MTB, than DS!
He's bound to get a better fork that way!
- Slim
