Originally Posted by Miele Man

I do a lot of touring in Northern Ontario Canada. I get off the train in a small town and often ride 60+ kilometers to the actual start of my tour. A lot of the roads I ride there are loose surface dirt, stone, gravel logging/mining/fire roads. Sometimes i'll have my narrow 1.5" slicks (26' wheels) mounted for the paved and hard surface portion of the ride to the start and then the first night camping swap them for the wide knobby tires I need for tyhat loose rough stuff. This also allows me the luxury of touring a lot of the paved backroads in that area or riding a totally different route home.

I think an old rigid MTB (front and rear = non-suspension) is one very versatile bike. Many of them have the mounts for racks, dual bottle mounts and also have good clearances for fenders over 2.125" knobby tires.

For examples take a look at all the MTB/dropbar conversions on the gravel grinders thread.

Cheers