Tat bike choice

Planning a trans American trail ride next summer with a buddy and a few of his friends. They are all riding the t7 for ease of part/tool consolidation but I’m not sold that’s the bike I want to ride.

I did a 3 month cross country trip on an xr650r years ago and I’ve ridden dirt and street for the last 20~ years. I got to ride a t7 and cfmoto ibex this past weekend and was really impressed with the cf. I’m looking for opinions between the cf and t7 and other bikes I should be looking at. I’m 39, 5’11 180.