Designed as a no-compromise offroad touring machine, the Shand Tam is pretty much all you would need for an extended tour into the backcountry. It has all the rack and bottle mounts you could dream of, mudguard eyes and a super reliable belt drive system. This links in with a top quality Rohloff hub, giving 14 gears within its sealed and compact hub making it pretty much bombproof. Should, for any reason, it all go wrong at the other side of the world you're still covered as the Tam can be used with pretty much any gearing system out there.
At the heart of this drivetrain flexibility is the 'Polydrop dropouts' which can be configured to take either single speed, standard derailleur gearing or - as in this case - can even split to allow the fitting of a band drive. If your Rohloff hub explodes on the Russian Steppe, you could even go singlespeed to get you moving again - all that's needed are the correct inserts, which could be easily carried as spares. The same goes for the Reynolds 651 frame - nothing too exotic that couldn't be fixed at a roadside welders if push came to shove.
Multi-position Jones Loop H-bars make long distances more bearable, while the 29er wheels should keep you ticking along over just about any surface, no matter how rocky.
Verdict: If you're looking for a long-distance companion you could do a lot worse than the Shand Tam.
