I've checked the Touring thread but thought I would ask in this one.

Any thought on using the hybrid bike for touring? Do any of you do it? Is it too much for these bikes. We are considering lower to mid level bikes like the trek FX series.

My wife and I currently ride Trek 4300 Disk mountain bikes but at 48 years old we now keep them to the streets. We do longer rides anywhere from 30 - 60 miles at a time, several days per week. We have also done a week long tour and would like to do more. We want touring bikes but the cost is a bit much for us and frankly 80% of the time we will be using them locally

When we do tour, any problems loading these with heavier panniers? We have a Burley Nomad so I don't see us overloading the bikes though.

Anyway, your thoughts are appreciated. Sorry if this has been answered in the past. I just don't want to have problems with the bikes if we load them once in a while, or decide to flip the bird to the man and ride across the country and see what this journey holds for us. (a real possibility... lol)

Thanks