My husband and I just returned from riding the Selkirk Loop with some family and friends. We, unfortunately, were joined by the GIANT STORM of the season and didn't see the sun until the last of 10 days on the road...and only for about an hour. It was cold, we were SOAKED, our gear was soaked and there was snow.

Folks from Hawaii don't do well in those conditions!

Anyway - in planning this trip I got a Surly Cross Check about 1.5 years ago and that was going to be the bike that went on this trip. However, that bike and I did not get along. It was just far too heavy for me. And if it's heavy, I'm not going to ride it. So I sold it. And I put the PDW Take Out Basket on my carbon Orbea road bike, bought a clip on rear fender and attempted to put on fatter tires but there is ZERO clearance for the rear wheel so away I went on 23mm Schwalbes!

Plus, in the 1.5 years that I had my Surly, one of the cables wore a bit of the paint off and it already started to rust. Hawaii and steel do not play well.

The Selkirk loop is marketed as this great bike-friendly ride through great towns and areas of WA, ID and BC Canada. We expected some shoulder and the route to go through less travelled roads. Our whole group was VERY disappointed to discover the double logging trucks FLYING by us at 70mph on roads that have about 12" of "shoulder" for us, including the white line. We were not pleased. And since 50% of our group was over the age of 65, I had concerns for them! And then add a 5 day downpour to the mix and it's just a very crappy place to be on a bike.

We did have a few roads that were more scenic - and imagine my surprise when these roads turned to gravel, then a mix of gravel and mud, then a mix of gravel, mud, sand and then just hard packed sandy washboard. Sigh. My 23mm tires on my carbon road bike were---well - interesting. And my drivetrain was pretty much destroyed by the end of the ride.

I'm never doing that again! (Ride the Selkirk loop, or bike tour on a carbon road bike with 23mm tires!)

So I'm at a crossroads - I want to do more bike touring (The GAP, Ride the Rockies maybe, etc) but my Orbea isn't going to cut it.

I'm looking at Titanium because everything rusts in Hawaii so quickly that I'm not willing to spend $1000-$2000 on something that will begin to rust in 6 months. Plus I don't want to have to baby it and watch for every little scratch.

I also don't enjoy the heavier bikes. I had a Bike Friday for a bit (started to rust right away) but sold it because the brakes were crap and everytime we packed the bike we had to take them to a bike shop to fix the brakes. (BF bought them back from us because they admitted the brakes were an known issue with the bikes!) The weight of the bike was fine for me and I did enjoy the ride. But the rusting was a concern.

So I've narrowed it down to a Titanium bike OR a carbon bike that is beefier - however, travelling with carbon is not ideal and I don't want to worry about the frame getting knocked or cracked.

Now I've looked at Seven bikes (holy crap they are expensive!), Moots, Sage, Litespeed, Lynskey and Ti Cycles.
Seven = too expensive. I'll have to save for 5 years to afford that!
Moots has options - I like the Psychlo X but not sure of rack mounts or tire clearance
Sage is new and I'm not sure about their builds
Litespeed - too high end!
Lynskey - really liked the Sportive Disc - it gets pricey but can't run tires wider than 28c (Husband says no, need the option to go wider). Also like the Viale - tires up to 30c but no disc brakes!
Ti Cycles - like the Steilacoom - cheaper with good options, but limited to 28c tires again

So here is my main question:

--Disc brakes or not? (if not, I can strip the components off my Orbea and just upgrade a frame and brakes)
--Crossbike or Touring/Commuting bike? I did like the higher BB of the Surly Crosscheck, but most of the cross bikes out there do not have rack mounts. And most cross bikes have disc brakes.
--Just how fat of a tire (without fenders) do you think I should be able to go? Especially if there are plans for a fire road or rail trail bike trip? My husband is running a 32 tire on his Disc Trucker and loved them on the Selkirk trip. I had 32's on my Surly but thought they were slow and too big.
•• During the Selkirk ride, the folks with disc brakes has no problems at all with any of the muck/mud/sand/water and stopping power. I did comment more than once that I had no stopping power at all. :-/ And I didn't have any bags on my bike!

I want this to be my "last bike." The one I have for errands, long group rides, light touring, medium touring, some fire road exploration, rail trails, fondos, etc. I want to be able to box it up and not worry about it through the flight. I want to be able to let it sit in my shop for 8 months while I train on my tri bike for an Ironman and not worry about it rusting. I want to be able to pick it up easily with one hand and have the ability to run thin or fatter tires on it.

I know this is a lot to ask for a bike - but if I'm going to spend another couple thousand on a bike, I want it to cover a lot of bases!

Any input would be very much appreciated!

Mahalo!

Denise