I took a Stumpjumper to NZ back in the 80's, before the days of suspensions. I took off the mountain bars and put on touring bars with bar end shifters. I put Blackburn racks on it front and back (side racks and a back rack), four panniers and a handlebar bag. I changed the gearing, but you may not need to do that.

For tires, I think I had 1.75 MTB tires, which were a lot smaller than a 2.25 or whatever the standard size MTB tire is. Worked fine. I wouldn't put on anything smaller or with less tread. A fully loaded touring rig is hard enough to control and I wouldn't want to try it on slick tires. Slicks and rain are a bad combo. I've gone down on my road bike on slicks and if there is any sand on the road (like on paths along the beach), same problem.

You may be able to lock the front forks, but I wouldn't worry about it if you can't. If you have front racks, those should take up some of the spring in the shocks. You may want to change the saddle too. I now have a Serfas split saddle on my MTB, which is quite comfortable. You may want fenders. I didn't have them, so when it rained, I just got a bit wetter, not that big a deal since I was cold and wet anyway.

I would take spares and tools. I took spare tubes, a folding tire, spare cables and a tool kit. Never needed them, as I recall, other than for minor adjustments. Some tours carry your stuff for you and have spares and tools. I was alone, so I was totally self contained.


Edited by TomD (04/19/14 09:43 PM)
_________________________
Don't get me started, you know how I get.