frankly I am not sure I understand this conversation.
there IS A SUPPLY FOR ULTRA LIGHT CARBON TOURING BIKES. just google and you'll find builders that will design a custom frame for you. and put whatever component you ask. interestingly, one such
carbon frame builder shows bikes in a variety of "touring" settings rather than the more lycra-clad rider(s)-on-the-competition-circuit.
there is (very) little demand for top end touring bikes. so little that no one has bothered mass marketing such bike.
---
Amazon is a very useful tool to learn about meaningful markets. They list close to 7,000 bike models. A couple of observations. First, touring is not even a category. Second, the median price of a bike is way below $1 000 across all categories but the Electric and Recumbent. In the Road category, the median bike (ie. half of the bikes sell for more and half sell for less) is listed at less than $600.
Type...........Models........Max Price......Median
Mountain.......1,010.........5,000..........442
Road...............832........12,000..........585
BMX................305.........1,080...........329
Hybrid.............341.........3,200...........399
Folding............364.........3,200...........564
Comfort...........126.........4,471...........399
Cruiser............916.........2,650...........220
Electric.........2,296.........5,860........1,560
Unicycles.........456.........1,000.............80
Tandem.............17.........2,200...........420
Recumbent.........31.........3,500........1,400
It should be obvious that the average touring bike is, in fact, a higher end bike. Based on the my understanding of numerous reviews and comments made here and elsewhere, the stock LHT would qualify as a mid range entry. Let's say a median, at the very best (more than half of the dedicated tourers are priced higher). The LHT retails for something close to $1200, i.e twice the median road or mountain bike...