Choosing between Trek 920 and Kona Sutra

[JWK1]

I debated putting this on here since the biggest priority for choosing the bike is based on my everyday riding, but I decided to post here because the bikes in question must be able to go on the bikepacking trips my buddy and I are planning.  No road touring, but no single trail mountains, either.  These will be trips using a comination of rackless bags and maybe some small panniers.  All destinations will be accessed by gravel roads at best, and usually jeep trails, logging roads, etc.

After a lot of thinking and internet research and talking with my cycling friends, I've come down to choosing between the Trek 920 and the Kona Sutra.

I live in central Maine.  90% of my biking is day rides that are between 30 and 40 miles.  By mid summer I'll probably be taking a ride once a week in the 55 to 65 mile range if I follow my cycling patterns from previous years.  I ride a mix of horrible pavement, gravel roads and rail trails.  Single trail and very rough jeep/logging trails are not part of the choosing criteria.

I ride a Surly Disc Trucker right now with 38mm tires.  After riding for the past month, I am absolutely sure that I want to move up to a wider tire.  The last ride I took (40 miles) had long stretches of very rough, broken, frost heaved asphalt that really took a lot of enjoyment out of the ride and left me feeling more worn out than I think I should have been.

So that brings us to the two bikes in question.  These bikes are not the best for just eveyday riding, but I also want to be able to pack them up a bit for some touring and bike packing.  Since I've been riding the Surly for the past five years, I'm used to the stable ride at the expense of agility.  I'm OK with that.  Same with the weight.  However, I do not want to get any more sluggish than the Surly is with 38mm tires.

Even if there were bikes available now, there would be no Sutras or 920s in stock within any reasonable driving distance for me.  I was able to try out my friends Kona Sutra in the Boston area a couple of months ago.  It was a 54 and I take a 56 with Kona bikes, but it was OK to ride on for an afternoon.  We rode around Salem.  I was surprised that it seemed more nimble and fun than my Surly trucker.  The front end is very similar regarding HT angle and trail.  Maybe it was the shorter chainstay, maybe it was just having lots of fun with a friend.  It was only one afternoon and I did not get to A&B it with my Surly which was back home in Maine.  The bike was riding the stock Mondial 40mm tires.  I liked it.

My intent would be to use Rene Herse 700c x 44mm (Snoqualmie Pass) tires on the Trek 920 and 650b x 48mm (Switchback Hill) on the Kona Sutra.  The Trek has a BB drop of 85mm, so any 650b/27.5 wheel is out of the question, IMO.  The Kona has a BB drop of 72mm.  I will be using 170mm crank arms.  I am 6' tall with a 34" inseam, if that matters.  Either bike can use fatter tires with more tread for the rough stuff if called for, but I'm concentrating on the bulk of my riding time to make my choice.

I have no experience riding a 700 x 44mm tire.  I tried a 42mm tire on my Surly once, but it was really cheap, massively heavy (over 900g IIRC) with lots of heavy tread.  I got one mile down the road and turned right around, went back home and changed it back to the Panaracer Pasela 38mm.  I'm pretty sure the Rene Herse 44mm tire would not feel like that.  I have no experience at all with any 650b/27.5 wheel equipped bike.

So that's pretty much it.  I've picked the two bikes I can afford that suit my purposes best as far as I can determine.  They both have differing pros and cons, but the biggest factor for me to make my choice is to choose between a 700x44 or 650bx47/48.  I'm not sure how to do that at this point.  I'm hoping someone has some experience with these tire and wheel sizes and can give me their thoughts and opinions.

Side note:  Kona is totally out of Sutras until autumn and reportedly no framesets until spring 2021.  Trek has framesets now but no complete bikes.  Either way, it's OK with me.  I can wait if I decide the Sutra is the better choice.  If I went with the 920, I would definitely build up a frameset.

Thanks for any thoughts, opinions, advice, etc.

[threepin]

I think that for mixed surfaces and longer rides that wider is better (to a point, just not sure what that point is) for a tire. Currently for longer rides here in NW montana i have been using a 2013 Ti fargo with 2.35 Mezcal tires, they roll quite well and offer better cushioning than a small tire, to the extant that i have thought of trying the 2.6's. I think that the perception of speed or sluggishness has a lot of different components, some of them psychological. It is often stated, and i tend to agree that very high tire pressures feel fast but are less efficient as the surface roughness increases. Too, i know that my speed on smooth surfaces may be less but the control i gain and the relief somewhat from vibration and pounding are real. I got away from using a cycle computer long ago and have never used strava so going a bit slower is more ok when its not really in my face all the time. As rides get longer better absorption of trail irregularities really helps maintain freshness and control.

Maybe try a bike with a bit wider but fast rolling tires ? Width has less to do with energy loss than construction within limits. Too, on many of your surfaces i bet something wider might be faster than your 38's.