Touring - Another which one question

My first good bike was a late 70's Fuji America touring bike,I loved that bike and put somewhere in the neighborhood of 30,000 miles on it in about 6 years. Lately I have been checking out touring bikes again and am considering selling one of my motorcycles to fund the purchase of my dream touring bike. I really like the Rivendell Atlantis and the Surly Long Haul Trucker and was wondering if anyone has any first hand knowledge of either of these or if there are other high end touring bikes I should be considering. If I am going to part with one of my motorcycles for a touring bike it has to be something special :love:. Any and all suggestions or recommendations are appreciated.

ill go with the bike i have thorn sherpa full shimano xt groopset the wheels are sun rhyno size599 tyres marathon plus brooks b17 special saddle ,will i go on or have you heard enough,the modern day bikes are fantastic you wont go wrong buying any of the top bikes you really do get what you pay for,so good luck on your search for your dream bike and if ever your in ireland drop in for a cuppa .

Surly LHT bicycle is discussed repeated for several years now on this forum and you can find those discussions with a search (brief summary of findings -- most everyone who has a LHT likes it). There is a dedicated discussion group to the LHT here:

http://groups.google.com/group/SurlyLHT?hl=en

Some information about Atlantis can also be found on BikeForums; again, perform a search. Rivendell owners forum can be found here:

http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en

+1 for a Thorn tourer, especially with a Rohloff hub - a bike for life!

If you are looking for top of the range try a Thorn eXp. (http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/rohloffexp.html)

If you want front suspension for touring offroad try a Thorn eXXp. (http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/exxp.html)

Either of these could set you back around £3500+ with upgrades such as S&S couplers, racks, dynohub, lights etc.. I am assuming you would avoid the 17.5% VAT payable by UK residents.

I hope this helps give you some more ideas.

I narrowed the choices down to the Trek 520 and the Surly Long Haul Trucker. Saturday I went and checked them both out, tomorrow I will order a pair of LHT's for me and the Mrs :D:D, Woo Hoo new toys.