Muddyfox Explorer - Poor Man's Expedition Bike

Here we go. Off to New Zealand for a few years in the spring and I'm planning to do some cyclo-camping and off road touring (as well as general non-serious MTBing) - but being a student means I've got bugger all money (or more correctly, I spent all my money on my Gazelle).

I looked at a few budget options - 1. traditional touring bike, but they're rare in 25" frames and generally only go up to 35c tyres, 2. 29er/monstercross would be great but money, 3. find an old steel-mountain bike. All three options seem to be more difficult in NZ than in the UK, too - and boxing a bike and taking it on the plane isn't very expensive.

I've got a couple of old Konas and I've had a few others from the late 80s/early 90s, but generally, even on old MTBs I find that in large enough frame sizes (21" or so) they have very long toptubes (24") which makes me feel very stretched out (I have serious T-Rex syndrome). Smaller frame sizes with 22" toptubes have such short headtubes that I can't get the bars above the saddle even with the longest stems available.

So, saw this Muddyfox for sale and the geometry appeared good (21" ST, 22" TT) with 71 degree angles. Delivered today and had a ride around on it.

Good points

1. Tange butted chromo frame and forks
   
2. Front and rear mudguard eyelets, plenty of clearance, rear rack mounts, front lowrider mounts
   
3. Everything works, 175mm cranks
   
4. Fits well
   
   

Not-so-good points:

1. A bit ugly
   
2. Higher bottom bracket than I was higher than I was expecting - higher than my other MTBs from the same era. Not so good for road-touring but good for off-roading, I suppose.
   
   

Plans:
Fit super-duper tall Humpert stem and drop bars (all of which I have lying around anyway) and see how it rides - go back to flat bars and bar-ends if it's no good. Fit rear rack which I already own, buy a front lowrider if I can find one cheap. Mudguards, new tyres... I think I have some of an XT groupset somewhere so I'll fit that if I can find it, then just clean it up and polish the alu bits... Possibly get some handbuild wheels from Spa Cycles if I'm feeling flush - cheapest 26" wheelset is £150ish which is pretty good really.

I'm going to try to keep it below £200 for everything (including racks but not panniers). Spend so far:
£100 (the bike)