So, i'm a refugee from the road biking side of the cycling world. I'm about to move into an RV to travel the country 2-3 years and I just sold my road bike so I can pickup a mountain bike. I have enough money for an entry level mountain bike (trek marlin 7 or x-caliber).

The thing is, this bike is going to live outside (it's not going into the RV every night!) The more I think about it, the more it seems like a bad idea to get anything beyond a low-end beater from craigslist. It kills me to do that coming from a decent road bike with tiagra/ultegra setup, but I don't want to spend money just to see it rust away in 1-2 years.

In terms of what i'm going to be using it for: I do a fair amount of photography and i'm looking for a bike i can ride through forests or off trail so I can take my gear to take photos. It needs to be robust enough to take some abuse, but not a downhill insanity bike.

I've gone as far as thinking: you know, i can get a tent and put a dehumidifier in it, but that's just crazy. Anyone have experience storing their bike outside?