On one hand, we have John V's currently posted Colnago Ace....sleek, rockets away from a stop--sweet bike. Then there's the LHT......endless potential for Fredification (braze-ons for spare spokes, for a can of cheese-whiz, for a water purifier, etc.) In the end, it's your insight and honest-with-yourself sense of who you are as a cyclist that chooses the right bike. One rider's sleek is another's frippery, and another's vision of admirable functionality is another's picture of something the Joads might have ridden out of the dustbowl. The LHT invites lots of modification. Still, you can't successfully slip an Armani coat over a Fred who is wearing a utility belt and fool anyone. And, likewise, struggling to put fenders on the Colnago seems just sorta morally wrong , but then who wants mudstreak up their backside!? In short, know and rejoice in thyself.
DG, in the end, after all the soul-searching, you always seem a straight ahead guy who will make the most honest and therefore best choice of bike for himself. Ah, the sweet agony of the choosing!