Being afraid to cycle across Canada unarmed was more of a joke. Spent almost 2 years as a lone trail rider up in the Sierra Nevadas, prior to being drafted in the 60s. Found that what you say is so true, trick is to never act aggressive towards an animal that might be put into a fight or flee situation. After over 36 years in the military, on 6 continents, never had problems with the 4 legged creatures, now 2 legged was a different story.

I did go back and look at the Safari...think I will pass as it is more for off road trekking and I don't think I am up for that. Will stick with more of a touring bike. I looked at the Crossrip when I bought the V85. V85 was better equipped, fit better and was several hundred dollars cheaper. V85 would do for most credit card touring, but am thinking about camping. Guess I need to go spend a little time comparing the Trek 520 disc with the Surly DT and spend a little more time in the saddle on both of them. You are right about the stem being an easy thing to change. When I bought my V85 was changing from a hybrid where I sat up almost straight so I used a stem extension and a variable stem. It worked great and as I built up core strength the stem extension went away and then the variable stem was replaced with a fixed stem. Have both in my box of bike stuff, so plan on playing a little with the set up until I get used to the bike. I live right next to some very hilly country and will start riding with a group of folks that all ride touring bikes of some kind or another with Trek 520 and Surly LHT being the top two I see a lot.