Default tourer?

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
reohn2
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Re: Default tourer?

Post by reohn2 »

mrjemm wrote:I do think if I had no bikes already and wanted something for a prolonged bike trip, a 26" trucker would be likely my 1st investigation. As it stands my Vaya is No1 bike, while my Orange P7 (not much P7 left, but...) is my 26" toy, and very close in nature to a 26" LHT/DT (has both brake mounts, 8) ).

I can fully understand that reasoning and also understand the reasoning that the 26" DT in anything but small sizes just don't look right,nooo not at all :?


R2... Wax on my tache? Not a hope! Cheeky feller. :lol:

Apparently it's a mark of a true hipster HIPSTER ALERT :-
http://www.firehousemoustachewax.com/Wa ... od__KS.jpg

And I don't think a backwards Tara would work- nothing to stop the panniers flapping about. If you look further into the photobucket you linked to, he shows going between the 2 directions, so perhaps realised his mistake, or was experimenting.

Yes I did see that.
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
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Bicycler
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Re: Default tourer?

Post by Bicycler »

reohn2 wrote:
PH wrote: You're right that you don't hear much bad about them. But you can't fail to notice how often they come up for sale second hand. I don't think many people undertake the purchase of a £1,000+ bike lightly and if they're selling it after a short period of time my theory is it must have disappointed them in some way. Maybe not the bikes fault, maybe they didn't realise what they were getting, maybe it didn't turn out to be what they thought. Of course it's only a theory, and there are of course many reasons for selling a bike.

Yes you do see a few for sale,and no doubt there's different reasons for that.But it doesn't mean the bike's a bad one.
There's a lot of people with touring stars in their eyes that are never reached for due to real life realisations.
There are a lot of Galaxy's up for sale too,and whilst the Gal' is an old 'un,you see quite a few newish ones for sale.

I think the innocent explanation is that they are popular. More bought new means more later sold second hand. Same thing with the Galaxies. In fact I'd challenge the earlier statement that Galaxies are no longer the default tourer. Whilst I hardly see lots of tourers I bet I still see more Dawes tourers out and about than LHTs. They may no longer be the enthusiasts' choice but the name still seems to count for something (or maybe there's just enough old ones still hanging around).
reohn2
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Re: Default tourer?

Post by reohn2 »

So following on from all this speculation,has anyone had an LHT or DT,thought they weren't good bikes and why?
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
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RonK
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Re: Default tourer?

Post by RonK »

reohn2 wrote:So following on from all this speculation,has anyone had an LHT or DT,thought they weren't good bikes and why?

Yes, I had an LHT which was replaced after one tour. Apart from the appalling finish which had rust appearing after only a few months, I found it a dull, unresponsive, unrewarding ride - a real slug.
The theory is simple: a) cycling is inherently fun, and b) the less weight you carry, the more fun it is.

Tour Journals, Articles and Blog: Whispering Wheels
reohn2
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Re: Default tourer?

Post by reohn2 »

RonK wrote:
reohn2 wrote:So following on from all this speculation,has anyone had an LHT or DT,thought they weren't good bikes and why?

Yes, I had an LHT which was replaced after one tour. Apart from the appalling finish which had rust appearing after only a few months, I found it a dull, unresponsive, unrewarding ride - a real slug.


What did you replace it with?
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
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simonhill
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Re: Default tourer?

Post by simonhill »

I have been following this thread because I have an LHT. My comments are half way down page 2.

I find it all rather amusing with people doing all the comparisons. Unfortunately this is a luxury that many (most) of us can't do. I don't have a stock of bikes in my shed, so can't say how they compare to an LHT. I think the majority of people are in my situation. I chose this bike based on recommendations and now ride it. Maybe if I trawled the bike shops and got them to lend me different bikes for short tours I would find my bike is rubbish and would change it.

As far as I am concerned it seems OK to me. As I said I have toured on it a lot, I tour for about 5 months a year, then use the bike for local stuff.
PH
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Re: Default tourer?

Post by PH »

reohn2 wrote:Yes you do see a few for sale,and no doubt there's different reasons for that.But it doesn't mean the bike's a bad one.
There's a lot of people with touring stars in their eyes that are never reached for due to real life realisations.
There are a lot of Galaxy's up for sale too,and whilst the Gal' is an old 'un,you see quite a few newish ones for sale.

I didn't say it was a bad 'un. There's presently 3 bikes and 1 frame for sale on this forum, bikes described as "As new", "Nearly new" "used one tour", not a scientific sample, but I'd still suggest the proportion of people who are buying and not keeping is quite high compared to other bikes. In contrast, there's currently only 1 Galaxy for sale on the forum and that's a Ti version. I don't know the figures, but I'd be surprised if the LHT outsold the Galaxy, if for no other reason than the Dawes availability.
If I was in the market for a full on tourer, the LHT would definitely be on the short list, but it wouldn't be there on it's own, I can think of a few other bikes that equally deserve a place.

Care to name a few?


Without too much research these would be on the shortlist, I'm not looking for another bike...
Hewitt Cheviot (My current steel tourer and I have no intention of changing it)
VO Campeur
SOMA Saga
Ridgeback Panorama
Spa Tourer
Some of the Jamis bikes sold by Evans
Genesis Tour de Fer
And lastly, the Surly Crosscheck, I know a couple of people who tour on them and rate them.
PH
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Re: Default tourer?

Post by PH »

simonhill wrote:I have been following this thread because I have an LHT. My comments are half way down page 2.

I find it all rather amusing with people doing all the comparisons. Unfortunately this is a luxury that many (most) of us can't do. I don't have a stock of bikes in my shed, so can't say how they compare to an LHT. I think the majority of people are in my situation. I chose this bike based on recommendations and now ride it. Maybe if I trawled the bike shops and got them to lend me different bikes for short tours I would find my bike is rubbish and would change it.

As far as I am concerned it seems OK to me. As I said I have toured on it a lot, I tour for about 5 months a year, then use the bike for local stuff.


If you're happy with it, you're happy with it, there isn't anything to take away from that. Equally if other people are not so happy with it why wouldn't they make comparisons with other bikes they'd owned or tried, I don't see what's amusing about that!
So much of it's subjective anyway, I had a Thorn Raven, a bike that has lots of happy owners and although the bike was comfy and never let me down in any way, I never really liked it. I'm interested to hear of others experience, but it is what it is and I have no expectation that mine will necessarily be the same.
reohn2
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Re: Default tourer?

Post by reohn2 »

PH wrote:
I didn't say it was a bad 'un.

I didn't say you did.
There's presently 3 bikes and 1 frame for sale on this forum, bikes described as "As new", "Nearly new" "used one tour", not a scientific sample, but I'd still suggest the proportion of people who are buying and not keeping is quite high compared to other bikes. In contrast, there's currently only 1 Galaxy for sale on the forum and that's a Ti version. I don't know the figures, but I'd be surprised if the LHT outsold the Galaxy, if for no other reason than the Dawes availability.

I can't disagree with that,but it's a snapshot in time,though one or two LHT's do come up on the forum sales board.


Without too much research these would be on the shortlist, I'm not looking for another bike...
Hewitt Cheviot (My current steel tourer and I have no intention of changing it)
VO Campeur
SOMA Saga
Ridgeback Panorama
Spa Tourer
Some of the Jamis bikes sold by Evans
Genesis Tour de Fer
And lastly, the Surly Crosscheck, I know a couple of people who tour on them and rate them.


And all quite similar framesets to the LHT other than the LHT has a horizontal TT,the geometry is similar on most.
What I'm trying to get at is why is the LHT so popular,maybe it isn't top dog in the UK but in the US or globally even it comes up near the top.
Someone posted up thread (you(?))that they may have been introduced at just the right time in the US and got a good name,and once established is hard to shift of it's perch,much as the Galaxy used to.
Though TBH the spec for the standard LHT is very good for the price point.

So far we've one person complaining it's a 'slug' but until we know what he's it's comparing it to we don't know how valid that complaint is,everyone else seems to be happy with theirs,which seems to back up the fact that it's a very good tourer.
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PH
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Re: Default tourer?

Post by PH »

reohn2 wrote:So far we've one person complaining it's a 'slug' but until we know what he's it's comparing it to we don't know how valid that complaint is,everyone else seems to be happy with theirs,which seems to back up the fact that it's a very good tourer.


The answer is in his blog, very nice bikes they are too.
I fond the LHT to be, well not a slug, but certainly very steady (Yes...subjective) for the riding I was using it for I liked that. The Hewitt by comparison (Even more subjective) feels quite sprightly. The hard facts from the computer showed I was just as slow on either :oops:
reohn2
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Re: Default tourer?

Post by reohn2 »

PH wrote:The answer is in his blog, very nice bikes they are too.

It ain't,just that he prefers Ti.
I fond the LHT to be, well not a slug, but certainly very steady (Yes...subjective) for the riding I was using it for I liked that. The Hewitt by comparison (Even more subjective) feels quite sprightly. The hard facts from the computer showed I was just as slow on either :oops:

Amazing innit,sometimes a bike that feels fast ain't when the numbers are totted up,I've had the same experience,which caused me to sell a bike almost 3kg lighter than my Vayas but nowhere near as comfy.
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PH
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Re: Default tourer?

Post by PH »

reohn2 wrote:
RonK wrote:
reohn2 wrote:So following on from all this speculation,has anyone had an LHT or DT,thought they weren't good bikes and why?

Yes, I had an LHT which was replaced after one tour. Apart from the appalling finish which had rust appearing after only a few months, I found it a dull, unresponsive, unrewarding ride - a real slug.


What did you replace it with?


http://wheelswhisper.blogspot.co.uk/201 ... oject.html
reohn2
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Re: Default tourer?

Post by reohn2 »

PH wrote:http://wheelswhisper.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/sabbath-silk-route-project.html


As I posted before he prefers Ti.
What's new?
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RonK
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Default tourer?

Post by RonK »

reohn2 wrote:
PH wrote:http://wheelswhisper.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/sabbath-silk-route-project.html


As I posted before he prefers Ti.
What's new?

Ah, so some of you have discovered I have a Sabbath Silk Route.

Your response presupposes I had a preference for Ti. In fact I had never ridden a Ti bike and I knew nothing about Ti other than what I could read on the internet. And since there are precious few other tourer offerings locally other than the Vivente World Randonneur, the best option was to buy a frame and build my own. I took a risk on the Sabbath frame which was at the time new on the market but affordable. The punt payed off in spades, and I'll be departing with it for a third tour in March.

To conclude I have a preference for Ti is not correct. I have a preference for bikes that satisfy my requirements. As such, my second venture into Ti bikes was not a success. I don't like the Van Nicholas Pioneer much at all. The Rohloff is noisy, overrated and overpriced. You can read my thoughts about that on my blog too. It's been a failed experiment into flat bars and internally geared hubs. It also will likely be replaced.

So far as the LHT is concerned, it's a frame made in Asia from 4130 tubing and assembled with reasonable but inexpensive components. How can it possibly be better that any other similar constructed bike. The answer is quite simply that it can't be and it isn't

The local product I mentioned earlier (the VWR) is a similarly constructed bike, made in Asia from the same 4130 tubing, same geometry and design even down to the spare spoke holders, and at a guess made in the same factory, but it has a superior component and feature list which includes a disc brakes, dynamo hub and lighting, mudguards and Tubus rack. At around the same price it beats the LHT hands down for value, and is selling strongly here. I recommended one for my brother, he's very happy with it.
The theory is simple: a) cycling is inherently fun, and b) the less weight you carry, the more fun it is.

Tour Journals, Articles and Blog: Whispering Wheels
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Sweep
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Re: Default tourer?

Post by Sweep »

PH wrote:
reohn2 wrote:So far we've one person complaining it's a 'slug' but until we know what he's it's comparing it to we don't know how valid that complaint is,everyone else seems to be happy with theirs,which seems to back up the fact that it's a very good tourer.


The answer is in his blog, very nice bikes they are too.
I fond the LHT to be, well not a slug, but certainly very steady (Yes...subjective) for the riding I was using it for I liked that. The Hewitt by comparison (Even more subjective) feels quite sprightly. The hard facts from the computer showed I was just as slow on either :oops:

Would you reckon that the Hewitt would be the equal of the LHT for expedition touring?
Sweep
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