Originally Posted by MassiveD

That bike is nuts for what you are trying. You can do the whole trip which I gather is a trans-am great divide link-up on 1.5 inch tires. That would be the sweet spot. 3 inch tires are laughable. Classic touring bike is a 29er, it just doesn't run stupid size tires that have no place in what you are doing. It isn't that large tires are some space age innovation, it is that they are stupid in almost all situations. Those things only make sense if you are not only off road, but off trail or path.

I have a lakeside property and up the road a piece the road is near the shore. I see this guy riding along the beach on huge large marge tires. First time I saw the rig. The beach is soft in places and very bouldery in others, and not a place to ride a bike, but this guy just trucked along at moderate speed never diverting. We got home in time to see him wiz by our place. And while we don't need any more trespassers breaking up the soft sandstone ledges around here, it was impressive for what it was. But a road or path trip it was not.

Under the right conditions a toruing bike just sails along a beautiful smooth road, and you have a huge feeling of freedom, you can go anywhere, stop anywhere and you are in command of a conveyance that would only be more efficient if you were a fish. Why screw the whole thing up with some advertising twaddle from Surly. This isn't the first bike they built, and there is a reason for that. It's a brand extension for someone with a cattle ranch in Australia, or who wants to spend a few hours testing certain limits in a bog.

The advice I give myself is that while I enjoy all kinds of crazy cycling ideas (I want a 69er touring bike with double front brakes), I remember to keep it real for when I get out there. The road does not care about the latest crap dreamt up to suck money out of someone's pocket who will never get out there, while they are stuck on a subway somewhere reading a catalog. Stick with the basics. There is somewhere where 3 or 4 inch tires would be the basics for some trip, that just isn't the trip you described.