Road touring gear? Touring advice?

[hugh.]

Let's talk drive trains. I'm not too savvy with road gear & brands but I don't need anything crazy. I know sram gear is nice....? 

My needs may differ to yours of course but this is how im set up. I plan to do super long tours in the future.

I chose a lower tier MTB groupset simply due to ease of use and cost of replacing it. Anything over shimano 105 in the road section is overkill imho.
Shimano deore xt rear derailleur and steel chainrings and cassette. Shimano Sora front derailleur. Shimano LX hubs. Cranks are some random mismatched mtb triples.

My mindset is I don't need the best, lightest parts when i've 40kg of stuff strapped to my steel framed bike. I like my setup to be compatable with parts I can find in a tiny bikeshop in the backend of Africa. I want to be able to replace my whole drivetrain for less than €200. I want it to be heavy duty and dependable, and when something goes wrong I want to be able to fix it with some string and a screwdriver until I find a place I can replace it for €20.

Don't be afraid to buy into the lower Shimano groupsets like Sora. Touring is hard on a bike and youre gonna wear stuff out quicker. Shimano stuff is simple to work on too. I regreased and serviced my hubs with basic tools on a train station platform and it took 25 minutes. I don't think I could of done that had I ran Chriskings or something just as fancy.

I prefer the 'old reliable Jeep' rather than the 'full loaded Porsche Cayenne'.