This week I got my new Surly LHT put together, so my wife and I decided to take a three day tour on Maryland's Eastern Shore to see how the bike rode. We made a loop of a little over 200 miles, camping one night and staying in a B&B the other.

Lessons learned:

1. Pay very close attention to the angle of the saddle. I set my new saddle level according to the latest gospel. Previously I always rode with a 2 to 3 degree tilt back. After a lot of discomfort on the first day on the road I adjusted to the 2 to 3 degree tilt. The difference was astounding. My chamois quit bunching up and the load on my hands became comfortable. Don't discount a new saddle without some experimentation.

2. The Sugino XD600 crankset is a great crankset for the money. It's smooth with just the right chainrings for touring and a great bang for the buck.

3. For me, an 11-32 cassette matched with the Sugino 48-36-26 is a poor choice for flatland touring and for anything up to about a 9% grade. The spacing between the most commonly used gearing is too wide. I'll probably go with a 12-27 or 12-28 if I can find one.

4. A shorter reach and higher bars aren't necessarily that comfortable if you're used to something else. My road bike has, and my previous touring bike had, a longer reach to lower bars and both are/were comfortable for 100+ mile days. With shorter reach and higher bars on the LHT, my back started to twinge at about 40 miles each day.

5. I'm getting too old for camping. We've decided to trade in our heavy duty camping gear for stuff that's lighter and more compact and that will only be used in emergencies like when we can't find a motel or B&B. The cooking gear goes too. We'll eat cold groceries in a camping emergency. The feeling of independence is great when you're self-contained touring, but the feeling of sleeping on hard ground isn't.

6. STI "brifters" may not be the most common choice for touring, but they're great compared to everything else I've used (which includes just about everything else). You'll notice that both my wife and I have changed to STI and drop bars since our last tour photos were posted. If I ever tour in a third world country I'll carry a spare set of downtube shifters just in case. Used STI "brifters" on eBay go for about the price of brake levers and barcons.

Photos:

Heading out on a beautiful day
The LHT shows off it's "brifters" and the low, low Tubus Duo front racks
Nice little Eastern Shore bridge
Breakfast the second morning. I got us both in the picture.
A little rain the second day. The fenders come this week.
Seagulls helping out the farmer.
Amber waves of soy.
St. Lukes Episcopal, founded 1728 at a cost of 140,000 pounds of tobacco
Beauty...some flowers are still blooming
The Beast...on the way to harvest

Very cool. I'm hoping to get a short tour in by the end of this year. Mainly to see how I feel about it. I think 3-4 days and a distance of about 250-300 miles or so should give me a good idea of what it's about. I'm researching my equipment as we speak.

I love your pics, and it looks like the two of you had a great time.

I'm thinking about buying a LHT complete, and i'd love to hear any other opinions you might have regarding it. I'm new to touring, but not to cycling, and would love to ride cross country

I'm thinking about buying a LHT complete, and i'd love to hear any other opinions you might have regarding it. I'm new to touring, but not to cycling, and would love to ride cross country

The LHT isn't the most beautiful touring bike out there, but it is among the most functional and is certainly an excellent value. If you're the kind of person who likes fancy lugs and fancy names and is as much a collector as a rider, then the LHT probably isn't for you. But, if you're looking for a good solid touring bike at 1/3 to 1/4 what you might pay for equivalent functionality in fancy makes, one that you can ride long distances reliably, ding, scrape, dent without worry, and generally wear out while getting more than your money's worth, then the LHT might just be the bike.

After a couple of hundred touring miles on an LHT, I can't say that it has been any more comfortable than my previous touring rig that was a converted aluminum framed non-suspension fork mtn bike. What I do appreciate is the lower bottom bracket, and a geometry that makes possible the use of drop bars. The profusion of well placed and machined braze-ons is also an improvement.

If you're coming from a racing background, I caution you to find a fit in the LHT that is closer to the race bike fit that you have found to work for you than to the generally accepted touring fit which suggests larger frames, and less bar reach and drop. I departed from my usual setup with the LHT and found a shorter reach to higher bars extremely uncomfortable after a short while on the road. Of course, YMMV.

#1-You folks are hard core.

#2-You folks sure know how to have fun.

#3-That Sugino crank is my fav triple although I changed the inner ring to a 24 and run a 12-25 cassette. Even with the BOB loaded it is all the gears I need.

#4-Conceptually I sort of miss camping but not when we are actually out on the road. Plus it sure is nice to not haul all that stuff (makes big miles much more resonable).

#5-Nice photos. The one of your sweetie in the grass makes her look about 16.

#1-You folks are hard core.

#2-You folks sure know how to have fun.

#3-That Sugino crank is my fav triple although I changed the inner ring to a 24 and run a 12-25 cassette. Even with the BOB loaded it is all the gears I need.

#4-Conceptually I sort of miss camping but not when we are actually out on the road. Plus it sure is nice to not haul all that stuff (makes big miles much more resonable).

#5-Nice photos. The one of your sweetie in the grass makes her look about 16.

#1- This coming from a guy who rides weekend double centurys in the mountains on a fixed-gear.

#2- We did have fun, and the wife sat down at the computer and started planning our next tour within 4 hour of our arrival at home.

#3- I'm thinking about the exact same setup. I already have the 24 tooth inner.

#4- Exactly! Camping is nice to think about but hard on the back, and the lack of proper rest makes the next day less enjoyable than it could be.

#5- Dang! She's not 16? She told me she was, but I didn't have my glasses on so I couldn't tell for sure. I'm going to have a word with that mail-order brides website right now!

That looks like fun, but all that baggage makes me think that "credit card touring" would be more my style. I can see myself riding on flat roads like that with a loaded tourer, but not the hills we have in NC.

Regarding camping, it gets harder and harder to sleep on the ground the older you get. My wife and I went camping this summer for the first time in about 5 years, and she said never again -- and she's the one who has been bugging me to go.

[QUOTE=StillRiding....#2- We did have fun, and the wife sat down at the computer and started planning our next tour within 4 hour of our arrival at home.....[/QUOTE]

Indeed. Miss M already has our next 2 trips (Florida and Texas) already finalized and is working on the third (Prague to Budapest). Plus we are sure to do a few spur of the moment trips in the meantime.

BTW 16 year olds are far too young to be any fun........could you imagine what you would have to put up with while on tour?

4. A shorter reach and higher bars aren't necessarily that comfortable if you're used to something else. My road bike has, and my previous touring bike had, a longer reach to lower bars and both are/were comfortable for 100+ mile days. With shorter reach and higher bars on the LHT, my back started to twinge at about 40 miles each day.


I had the same experience recently. After looking at my position, someone suggested that I looked a bit scrunched in my current position with my bars set too low. Granted, I've been riding that way comfortably for 20+ years now, but I moved my bars up to experiment thinking it would be more comfortable as I get a bit older.

About 20 miles later, my lower back started killing me. Dropped the bars back down and have been happy since.

Biking with your wife is absolutely priceless. Went only about 46 miles on Sunday afternoon with mine. She hurt me, but it was fun. We hope to do some touring one day, maybe once all the kids are grown. Thank your for the pics. I love the older church pictures.
What bike was your wife riding?

That looks like a fun trip. I always have fun the couple times a year when I get to ride with my wife. (It's that lil one we have running around the house that we don't know what to do with for a long weekend)

The pic in the grass is great ! Pure enjoyment.

Vanjr: My wife's bike is a highly modified Novara Safari.

MB1: Prague to Budapest has got to be one of the greatest tours ever. My wife is originally from Slovakia near the Hungarian border. We've done the Budapest/Prague trip by car and we dream of doing something similar by bike. Maybe next year we will. We want to fly into Vienna, ride the bike trail along the Danube from Vienna to Esztergom which is near my wife's family home. We have relatives and friends sprinkled along the way from there to Prague. With a little luck there will be no camping and only a few hotels involved. Stay at the Pav in Prague.

[QUOTE=MB1
BTW 16 year olds are far too young to be any fun........could you imagine what you would have to put up with while on tour?[/QUOTE]

I was right in the middle of imagining a 16 yo on tour when my wife came in and accused me to looking at those porno sites again. Now I'm grounded.

..MB1: Prague to Budapest has got to be one of the greatest tours ever. My wife is originally from Slovakia near the Hungarian border. We've done the Budapest/Prague trip by car and we dream of doing something similar by bike. Maybe next year we will. We want to fly into Vienna, ride the bike trail along the Danube from Vienna to Esztergom which is near my wife's family home. We have relatives and friends sprinkled along the way from there to Prague. With a little luck there will be no camping and only a few hotels involved. Stay at the Pav in Prague.

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