Today's Bike Ride

[wheezing donkey]

It would probably come under the modern genre of "adventure bike" ..... good as an on or off road exploration machine?
Steel is ok..... just a pity that bikes of this ilk are not built with heat treated CroMo, a lot stronger hence they could get away with thinner tube walls
I guess that will be the 8 speed Alfine?
Do you find bottom gear low enough?
How do you find the reliability .... certainly no exposed mechs to take a bashing?
I don't race my old 531 IslaBike, just use it for exploring on & off road. It's great for day rides, but it can't cope with loads for bikepacking / camping .... on steep downhills you can see the top tube shimmying in "S" shapes.
I'm looking to build up a Soma ( www.somafabs.com ) Juice (29er) as a "monster cross" adventure bike. With the right kit it should be quite a bit lighter than a Salsa Fargo.
Soma use heat treated Tange Prestige for all their main/front triangles.

It's a heavy lump of pig iron, but it's very comfortable.

Genesis Day One Alfine. Don't fancy racing it, don't fancy big climbing days either. Not really a proper cross bike either I suppose. I'm not 100% sure what it is tbh.

What I do know is its enjoyable cruising around on. It's a bit like a stem roller at times, all that inertia I guess.