I borrowed a buddy's bianchi over the summer and had some fun doing twenty mile or so day trips. Now that he needs his bike again I would like to get back into bike riding. I'll probably be using this to get around in santa cruz, ca (slightly hilly), doing some weekend trips in the area and trying out the dirt trails on campus.  In a year or so I'm hoping to be able to do a month or two long bike tour.

 Not quite sure what I'm going to want to do next year so looking for a decent all rounder. Something that'll be able to handle off road if I need to. With about $500 a gt transeo 3.0, diamond back insight , and an old centurion iron man expert.

haven't been able to find much on the gt transeo 3.0 besides some overall general reviews.

Diamondback Insight 1 looks like its leaning towards road bike. Not quite sure how it would handle off road. Not quite sure about the 19 " rims or  aluminum forks though.

the refurbished centurion sport definitely looks nice and was a light ride but don't think i'd be able to do much off road or tire swapping since the wheels are pretty close to the fork. It's constructed with Tange 1 double butted chromoly tubes. Outfitted with a complete Suntour GPX component group, new tires, new handle bar tape, and new cables and housing. 7 speed index shifters, 700c Araya hard anodized rims, and Tange Levin head set for $425. I read on another forum these sold for about that new in '87. so not sure if the shops giving a fair price.

My bad on the long post but any help is appreciated 

I've been on a couple 3-4 day backpacking trips and want to do something a bit longer. Looking to take a year off and do some wwoofing along the way. Been kicking around bikepacking in my head for a long time. Ideally i'd want to go from santa cruz to arizona. Seems like that might be a little overzealous. Especially since I don't have much of anything gear or money wise.

Looking at a 19" Bianchi Grizzly 1988 Celeste green uber bike for $350. Here's the description : This is a lugged & double butted cro-moly Bianchi from the golden age of MTBs. It is in great shape with the team Bianchi celeste color. The graphics are looking as original. Includes the Celeste green cable housings, handle bar, water bottle mounts, and even celeste colored toe straps. It has Shimano XT bear trap pedals and XT cantilever brakes with new XT brake pads. It has under mounted chain stay brakes. The fork & frame are lugged. I put on new 1.25" slick road tires for efficient road riding & doing the commute. It also has a titanium Bontrager saddle (100). The bike has a long wheel base and some folks use this as a platform for bike touring.

Heard Bianchis are crazy good road bikes but not sure how it'd fair on a long ride that probably won't have too much pavement. I'd probably have to cheap out gear so would probably have a bit of a load on it. I've read that road bikes don't do well with a lot of weight.

Also was wondering what gear you could cheap out on and what is essential. I've seen some pretty rad Diy rack bags so hopefully could mimic some of those. I figure I have around 600 to spend on the trip. Not even sure if this would be possible but planning for sometime next year.