veganbikes

If you have a bunch of concerns and already want to downgrade components on it that is probably not the right bike for you. I rode it and didn't love it but it is not a terrible bike by any means. I would agree on 28 spokes but I am a bigger rider I want my 32-36 spokes on a handbuilt wheel but a lot of more modern gravel type bikes are going the fewer spoke route but on a bike with 2 racks it is a bit short sighted but Trek is just being Trek, like a lot of companies, Trek has redefined what we want in a touring bike and unfortunately they didn't really take a poll of touring cyclists they just went with trends and what they thought was cool.

I would highly recommend the Kona that is a solid bike or if you are willing to spend a little look at Co-Motion. I own a Cascadia and honestly if I was doing it again I would probably go with a Divide frame. I built mine from the frame up and learned a lot about what I like and don't like after years in the industry and on bikes and now my tastes have changed a little.

I would also give a +1 to the Salsa Fargo. I want one but I already have a Timberjack Ti and the frame isn't that different enough to really justify it. That one I also built from the frame up as a mountain bike (not really for bike packing but I have the matching frame bag so I could) and it is fantastic but I can see easily bike packing with it would make a great candidate for that and the Fargo Ti more so.