Originally Posted by Randobarf

Most 'bents should work fine for you. A Gold Rush, for instance, doesn't care whether you are sitting straight on the seat. You can pedal slightly off to one side or the other. On any 'bent you should check to see how much interference there is between your lower leg (between your knee and ankle) when the chain is on the big ring. Anyone who has track sprinters legs or toe-out (knee-in) is going to get black marks on the inside of their right leg where the chain passes by but you don't want the chain actually wearing through your leg like the Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

The best way to prevent wonky cycling on tours is to go lightweight. It's fatigue that leads to ungraceful cycling and the lighter your gear is the less likely you will become fatigued. I would forget trailers and any heavy gear and go with, for instance, a Ti Rush with a steel fork and the EX gearing and comfortable puffy tires like Marathon Racers which are a bit slow but cause less vibration fatigue on rough surfaces. Ti also absorbs high frequency vibration.

Re: scoliosis - some of the laid-back 'bent seats will want to straighten your spine. Make sure you try the seat first to satisfy yourself that it offers enough sideways freedom to get into positions that suit you comfortably.