Planning to build a bikepacking bike based on a 8Bar TFLSBerg frame, thoughts and maybe help?

Hey guys,

six years ago I got my first real bike, a Cube Nuroad Race FE. So classic gravel bike, Shimano GRX600, 45mm tire clearance, not a lot of mounting points and generally not the most offroad georometry.

I loved my time on that bike for the past 6 years, but I feel like it limits me a lot these days for what I actually wanna do. So I am thinking of building up a proper bikepacking bike I can use to ride around europe and maybe at some point farther than just our lovely little continent.

https://8bar-bikes.com/de/shop/8bar-tflsberg-steel-v3-bikepacking-2-0-dropbar/#rahmen

Basically I wanna
– get the TFSLBerg frame
– a carbon fork with three point mounts thats compatible
– build the wheels myself using a SON 29S and a Ladelux system with a 6 bolt brake disc mount
– maybe put my OMM rack on there and ride it with a dropper post
– probably a 1x GRX8xx "groupset"

Questions:

1. Do you generally think thats a good idea? From reviews, geometry charts (that I don't fully understand but somewhat do) the frame looks pretty good for me. Do you agree? If yes or no, what are your thoughts?

2. I am 188cm tall with 92cm long legs. Should I get the L or XL? The people from 8Bar say I should get the L and use 40mm spacers to get the handlebars up to be able to reign in the effective reach. Googles Gemini says I definitly should use the XL for size and saddle height standover, but I'm afraid it just wants to agree with me because when I rode the XL with a 80mm+7 stem in berlin, it felt more comfortable than the L with a 80mm-7 stem and a weird handelbar with SRAM hoods. Would you go with the L or the XL?

3. If I go with the L, will a fork like that work, is the Gabelschaft long enough? https://www.seido-components.com/en/products/mgv-fork

4. Would you go for a Dropper Post, or would you rather not? Since I have to pretty early on have to decice if I at least want that option since the lever should be intregrated into the left brifter, I wanna know if you guys think I should at least keep that option open and get the more expensive brifter?

5. Which groupset / drivetrain components would you get for that? I love going up and down steep climbs and will ride it with at least 2.1 mezcals, if not 2.2" Dubnitals on rougher terrain than the european gravelers are used to.

6. Any other thoughts I need to be aware of?

Thanks so much for your help, tbh, I can't convey how excited I would be to finally start doing bikepacking the way I want to. I really hope it works!