I reckon it will work just great as a touring bike! Loaded my new build down with ~40lbs this morning and rode in to work (I bring all my clothes in and shut them in my locker on Monday, plus I carry ~8lbs of chains and locks that I leave on the rack throughout the week, add my lunch and big coffee thermos).
The steel frame handled the load like a champ. Supple, stable, it was a dream compared to my X aluminum frame POS. I have the Racktime Addit rack on the back which keeps the load quite low. I have HUGE heel clearance, even though I'm using a decent size set of panniers. These are Swift Industries custom Mini Rolltop Panniers (~30L per pair). I think I could pretty easily fit a much larger bag.
The stated chain stay length is 425mm, but you can add 17mm to that with the horizontal drop outs, making it effectively 442mm, getting pretty close to rivaling the Disc Trucker's 460mm chain stays. An extra inch? Who cares when those truckers have such strange looking geo.
