I use a Trek 970 with rigid front fork and Continental Town and Country 26 x 1.9 tires. It rides fine on or off road, especially loaded. I find suspension just sucks up too much energy, although if I were doing much single-track with this setup, I might put one on. I use Jandd Expedition rear & Extreme front racks. Very nicely made, and the Extreme front allows high or low mounting of the bags as required for clearance and also has a nice shelf. The OMM racks also look very nice, espec with susp fork.