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I'm a few months away from buying my first real bike. It's going to be a hardtail that I will use to make long distance bikepacking trips. Multiday to begin with but multiweek once I'll be up to the task.
I really don't know if I should buy a XC hardtail or a Trail hardtail.
Terrain I'll be riding on will be anything from gravel roads up to single tracks and I'll avoid asphalt roads whenever it is possible. There will be long portions of the trips on "soft" terrain like gravel, paths, double tracks, fire roads etc so I'm afraid a Trail bike would hold me down there. But once I'll be up in the mountains on rougher terrain I'm afraid the XC would hold me down (maybe I shouldn't because I'm not going to go fast in the mountains anyway, I'm bikepacking, not racing).
I should mention that the XC hardtail I'm looking at can fit 27.5, 27.5+ and 29" tyres so I could always put 27.5+ on it if I struggle on rough terrain. But I'm still afraid that an XC hardtail geometry isn't ideal for long distance riding, am I wrong there?
Also please keep the discussion to Trail hardtail vs XC hardtail, don't mention gravel bikes, trekking and touring bikes, I know about these and that's not what I want.
