Default tourer?

[reohn2]

Perhaps this thread should be retitled Default Expedition Tourer? I've never seen an LHT in the flesh. ride with your local Ctc section and you'll find that Galaxies, Panoramas, Thorns and Hewitts still dominate.

You maybe right,and I think PH has a point regarding how much of a load people tour with and mileage loaded v unloaded.
If loaded is for a two or three weeks a year and as an only bike the rest of the time used unloaded,maybe there are better options available.

[reohn2]

Very strongly built, Rohloff, extremely wear-resistant rims, Rigida Andra, V-brakes with Swissstop Blue blocks. I've had this bike for the last five years. It's brilliant.
Preceding it as touring bikes were 8 other bikes. This is the best.

But as RonK didn't like his Rolhoff equipped what looks to be a pretty fine tourer on paper,it goes to show not everyone likes the same,similarly so the LHT/DT.
Different strokes an all that.....

[RonK]

IMO it looks like a good bike and well specced,but DT/LHT is well worth the £1100(+£400 to load it) asking price in Europe whereas the Vivente isn't the same bargain @ £1820 and considering the supplier is a looonnnggg way of for any warranty claim,things start to look a little one sided from my POV.
In NZ/Oz that balance tips the other way maybe.

Anything bike here is very expensive. It's the reason why we are Wiggles biggest market. So making comparisons with UK prices is pointless.

My point in mentioning the VWR is that any manufacturer can produce a bike as good or better than the LHT and sell it at a competitive price.

To buy a similarly equipped LHT here will cost a third as much again as a VWR.

[reohn2]

Anything bike here is very expensive. It's the reason why we are Wiggles biggest market. So making comparisons with UK prices is pointless.

My point in mentioning the VWR is that any manufacturer can produce a bike as good or better than the LHT and sell it at a competitive price.

To buy a similarly equipped LHT here will cost a third as much again as a VWR.

I was agreeing with you

[gplhl]

Although, not that I've really counted, but I think I see more Thorns than Surlys on the road.

I've still seen more SLHT on the road. Especially in Africa. Thorns are great... Unless you want something built not in their standard setup. I spent ages trying to get a thorn with disc brakes and drop bars and it couldn't be done so I went down the disc trucker route, it's been fantastic for my long bike ride. As for aesthetics, when it's loaded to the hilt you can hardly see the bike, it's all bags..

Gary
http://www.longbikeride.co.uk

[Sweep]

As for aesthetics, when it's loaded to the hilt you can hardly see the bike, it's all bags

Funny but an excellent point.

[foxyrider]

where's the motor?

[reohn2]

where's the motor?

Taking the photo

[FarOeuf]

Although, not that I've really counted, but I think I see more Thorns than Surlys on the road.

I've still seen more SLHT on the road. Especially in Africa. Thorns are great... Unless you want something built not in their standard setup. I spent ages trying to get a thorn with disc brakes and drop bars and it couldn't be done so I went down the disc trucker route, it's been fantastic for my long bike ride. As for aesthetics, when it's loaded to the hilt you can hardly see the bike, it's all bags..

Gary
http://www.longbikeride.co.uk

I've toured on a LHT for years, but it was a size too big. I thought a lot recently about a better fit, and went down the Thorn Club Tour route. It's been a nightmare, mainly down to the 'not quite how Thorn like to do it' problem. So it ended up costing a lot and was not spec'd well. The frame is fantastic, but I've since replaced the 853 forks, the handle bars, stem, spacer stack, mudguards, seat tube, gear levers, brake levers, tyres. An expensive lesson, but there you go.

Re the LHT being 'a slug', unfair as a general statement of fact. The Reynolds 725 Club Tour frame is 2.4kg, the LHT is (I think, in 58cm) also 2.4kg. So the LHT is not the bloated/overweight frame people like to say it is. The LHT feels more relaxed/slower than a Club Tour (almost like for like components, and the LHT fork on both frames). I'd guess that's down to the lower BB on the LHT. The reality, for me, is that I go no faster on either bike, but I feel faster on the Club Tour. I doesn't feel £800 faster though, and 250km rides are completed in roughly the same time.

One of the things that strikes me about the LHT is that the frame I bought about 8 years ago is exactly the same one on sale now, and it's selling more than ever each year. The Club Tour I've just bought is a 'mk 4', and it feels as if Thorn are following fashion a bit (whilst marketing the opposite message). The Club Tour 4 is a great frame (not the 853 fork though) for road touring on nice roads, it's a 'refined' frame and I was constantly informed that it wasn't their 'go anywhere' frame. The LHT is simpler, cruder, but tougher, and you don't need to stick to nice roads, it's fine off-road too.

Finally, riding an expensive bike on a tour is just stressful for those times when you have to leave it outside a supermarket, outside overnight, on a ferry, in a train carriage, etc. The dull aesthetics of the LHT win here, my Club Tour is painted like a shiny expensive thing.

[PH]

I'd agree with most of that farOeuf.
Except

The LHT is simpler, cruder, but tougher, and you don't need to stick to nice roads, it's fine off-road too.

As you say it's no heavier, so it's hard to see where the extra toughness comes from.

[PH]

Gary
http://www.longbikeride.co.uk

Great photo Gary, doesn't matter how much banter we pass back and forth on the forum, it's no substitute for getting out there and doing it.

[FarOeuf]

I'd agree with most of that farOeuf.
Except

The LHT is simpler, cruder, but tougher, and you don't need to stick to nice roads, it's fine off-road too.

As you say it's no heavier, so it's hard to see where the extra toughness comes from.

no idea, that's just what the scales told me. Thorn's warnings may just be health and safety style. perhaps, compared to the Club Tour, it just feels tougher. so much seems to be about how things make us feel, rather than what they actually allow us to do.

cheers,

[freebooter]

I have never ridden an lht but from the specs it looks an ok bike but does seem to be a victory of marketing rather than anything exceptional about the bike itself.

Touring bikes used to be very unfashionable. The 700 lhts don't look to be fundamentally different to Galaxies or any other traditional touring bike and the 26" version was predated by the Dawes Sardar that had the same disk/rim capability but with a better quality Reynolds frame rather than generic cromo.

Dawes just didn't have the same internet savvy at promoting their bikes as modern and trendy.

[reohn2]

I have never ridden an lht but from the specs it looks an ok bike but does seem to be a victory of marketing rather than anything exceptional about the bike itself.

Touring bikes used to be very unfashionable. The 700 lhts don't look to be fundamentally different to Galaxies or any other traditional touring bike and the 26" version was predated by the Dawes Sardar that had the same disk/rim capability but with a better quality Reynolds frame rather than generic cromo.

Dawes just didn't have the same internet savvy at promoting their bikes as modern and trendy.

You could be right about the marketing,it very slick,but if a bike's a turkey it would soon show itself.
The LHT's I've looked at(not ridden one) have good spec and the framesets are very well made with good fittings.As good if not better than most out there,and certainly better made than the Galaxy's I've seen and much better cycle parts for the price too.

[FarOeuf]

I don't think the marketing for the bike has ever promised it's exceptional (unlike the marketing for the Club Tour, for example). The LHT is promised as a solid and reliable bike, and that's what you get.

Surly is owned by the biggest (I think) cycle distributor in the US, which is where they get the discounted bulk-purchase parts for the finishing kit. The finishing kit is also unexceptional, yet 'standard' parts of reasonably good quality are exactly what you want on a long distance tourer. Conversely, both front and rear mudguards on my Club Tour have an element of 'different' about them (front needs to be drilled to fit the fixing points on the fork, one rear strut needs worked to bend around the rear caliper). The lack of 'exceptional' is what makes me prefer the LHT.