[digibud]

My wife and I do 90% of our riding on the road but we also have mtb bikes with studded tires and a set of fat tire puglseys for winter trail riding. We are in our 60's. We have old mtb hard tails and had some custom wheels built for the pugs so we could travel and bring both fat and "regular" tires. The problem is that some of our riding on dirt roads involve some serious climbing. Nothing technical. No single track. All roads with decent surface but the weight of the pugs as well as her old steel frame hard tail is an issue.
She needs serious gearing...mtb gearing...but doesn't really need a shock up front or in the rear. Carbon would be my first choice she will also want a rack in back so that may not be an option. Trek's Domane even has a rack eyelet but I've not found a lightweight hard tail with ability to take a rack. Just day ride rack for extra clothing and the day's food is all we need. Flat bars or even moustache but not road bars.
Any suggestions for a lightweight (good alu would be considered) hard tail with low gearing for big dirt road hills ?

 

[HamBoy]

Have you thought about bikes such as these:

Giant AnyRoad
Giant Revolt
Specialized Tricross
Specialized Awol (steel)

There are also some really nice steel frames from Singular


These bikes place more of a comfort factor into the equation when compare to a cx bike, have more tire clearance, 700c wheels with the ability to fit 29er wheels, lower bottom bracket for stability, higher head tube, flared drop bars and are really versatile.

 

[HamBoy]

Sorry about only recommending bicycles from arguably two of the largest companies (i just work in a bike shop that stocks both brands and think that they have a real purpose)

 

[CS2]

Sorry about only recommending bicycles from arguably two of the largest companies (i just work in a bike shop that stocks both brands and think that they have a real purpose)

How do you the Giants? I've seen them but haven't ridden them.

 

[0sparky0]

I have a 2014 Giant TCX Advanced that I built with mtb parts that kills dirt roads, gravel, and is not far off my road bike on pavement. The model I have doesn't have rack mounts, but does have a 15mm front axle and currently wears 1.9" tires on my spare 29er wheels. To get a mtb the same weight would have cost a LOT more. So a second vote goes to Giant from me, or something like the tcx.

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