You ask about maybe a suspension fork. Does the Pangea take a suspension fork or would that mess up the geometry? And if you did put on a suspension fork, would you try to put weight on the front of the bike or load it all on the back?

I use drop bars for everything, see photo. (Photo is not a Pangea, my bike is designed to take solid or suspension fork, I fitted a suspension for the trip where I took the photo, a fully supported trip where a 4X4 hauled our gear and food and water.)