as mentioned, while the Tricross is not a full on tourer, I love my 2010, which Ive ridden with two full rear panniers often and it rides very nicely. It is indeed a fun mix of a bike, I have 28 slicks on it and it is fairly fast, but as mentioned, can take a reasonable load and still handle fine. I have yet to put a front rack and bags on it, but if not overloaded, Im sure it will be fine. (the fork on mine is diff than the current models)
My 54cm frame is alright for heel strike with panniers, you will have to see how the 49cm version is.
re: top bar cross brake levers, oddly enough I have come to like them a lot. On rough surfaces, especially rough steep downhills, they are great. I did however change my brake pads to those salmon coloured softer ones by Kool Stop, and they made the braking so much better, and made the top bar levers much more useable (original pads made using these levers rather hard, but braking power increased greatly with koolstops, completely worth it if you notice lack of stopping power)
re:30 tooth granny, you can go down to a 26 tooth with that crankset (if its the same as mine, probably is) if ever you want lower gearing (and if your RD has the limit of the stock cassette of 28 teeth, mine has a longer cage RD and a cassette that goes to 32 teeth)
ps, re real estate, yes they take up some room, and I have yet to mount a handlebar bag on it, but probably one would have to angle them down more to make room for a bar bag. My mtn bike is set up with the levers angled down more, and a handlebar bag fits fine on that bike.
Last edited by djb; 04-09-12 at 09:19 AM.