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Thank you all, this is very helpful. I'm leaning Rohloff + belt now!

At least with the Rohloff you'd be able to change cogs/gear-inches to accommodate the need for great climbing. Have you looked at the Boreal from Panorama bikes in Quebec?

Hey Travis, I was in the same place a year ago and I decided on a Pinion system. To add to Logan's great take above, there is now a Pinion with electronic shifting, which can be run with dropbars and road brifters (no gripshift). I personally found gripshift alright, it's really not bad at all, and some would even prefer it. In my case I have a regular non-electronic Pinion with gripshift, but I wanted to have dropbars so I rigged up a little extender/ accessory bar on which I mounted the gripshift. You can get creative and have a solution. I don't do high level MTB, just bikepacking, so it works for me. Ideally I would upgrade to the Pinion with electronic shift which came out after I got mine. Travis is also right about drivetrain efficiency. A derailleur set up has the least efficiency loss, but it has to be clean, straight chainline, etc, perfect conditions. In the real world applications frequently belt + pinion or rolloff is only negligibly less efficient than a derailleur set up. To the tune of 94% vs 98%. It's important when you race for the podium, but in normal riding it's not or barely noticeable. As far as weight comparison, I think Alee Denham here wrote the best article -- https://www.cyclingabout.com/weight-difference-between-derailleur-pinion-rohloff-bikes/. Enjoy your research!

Hi Travis. That's a really tough one as a lot of the deciding factors are based on personal preference. That being said, I would start by trying to predict what types of riding you want to pursue. If singletrack trails and "progression" with mountain biking is in the mix, it's really hard to dismiss a typical derailleur setup. It's the lightest option and the weight will have less of an effect on the riding. That being said, if this is is a dedicated bikepacking bike, weight doesn't matter nearly as much. I put countless miles on a Rohloff, and IMO, it offers the most proven durability of the bunch, as well as the fact that it's not limited to a specific bike, like the Pinion gear box, which requires the dedicated Pinion bottom bracket mount. The main downside to Rohloff is the weight distribution; having all the weight on the rear wheel is annoying to some people. Pinion centers the weight, which is an improvement. Another factor to consider is the type of handlebars; obviously, there there just aren't as many options for drop-bar shifters with Pinion and Rohloff. Hope that helped, and I'm happy to answer further questions you have in this thread.