The Hammer

I just ordered the 60 cm LHT in Olive. Changes I made: Switched the friction shifters and brakes for Ultegra STI's (personal preference) upgraded the front derailleur to Ultegra and upgraded the saddle to a Brooks B-17. Gonna add my Old Man Mountain racks, Arkel GT-54's and a set of fenders that I already had. Should be ready tomorrow

staehpj1

Sounds like a nice setup. I too prefer STI. I would question the Ultegra front derailleur though. The original lower end Tiagra actually handles touring bike gearing better by most reports.

The Hammer

Interesting. That was THE only recommendation the LBS added!

jpmartineau

A little post-mortem...

So I ended up getting the Olive w/honey saddle. I took the stock build. I figured if I need a smaller chainring, I can always buy one later.

I didn't "upgrade" to STI brifters because they don't play along well with my Arkel large handlebar bag. I don't regret sticking with the LHT's stock Dura-Ace bar-ends shifters. They are very precise and perform superbly and are more user friendly than I expected. Although I've never had any brifters, I read many times that bar ends they are simpler to fix and less prone to failure than brifters.

The front derailler also performs beautifully. I don't regret not upgrading to ultegra. Tiagra has served me good in the past (I had a rear Tiagra on my previous bike) and it's a fine front derailler. The only thing I've had to do in terms of adjustment is the usual CCW turn on the rear shifter cable to compensate for the initial cable elongation.

I changed is the brake pads to Kool Stops (regular, not salmon). I also changed the Stem to bring the drop bars about half an inch closer and higher. I'm glad I've done that.

I slapped on my old OMM AC low rider front rack and got a Tubus Cargo for the rear. I also got some SKS fenders. I was especially glad I did that when was unable to avoid a pile of horse dung going down chemin Olmstead on Mont-Royal (cops are on horse so that they can catch up with illegal off-road mountain bikers).

So after about three weeks and about 550km of mostly late night inner city riding and going up the mountain (Mont-Royal), I am in love with my bike and if had to choose again, I'd wouldn't change a thing.

Speedo

Congratulations on your bike, enjoy!

I just bought my first bike with brifters. They are nice, and very useful if you are trying to make fast front and rear shifts to keep up with a group. On the other hand, when you go with brifters you seem to inherit a lot of rules about which chainring combinations will work. The LBS would steer me away from chainring combinations that I thought would be desirable (50-39-26) because they felt that the front shifting wouldn't work well from the granny to the middle ring. My wife has that set of rings with downtube shifters and it works fine. I asked about that combination with bar end shifters and they said that that would work fine because the with the friction front shift with the bar end you can compensate for the fact that the front derailleur shape and the chainring combination weren't meant to go together.

I wouldn't loose any sleep about staying with the bar ends.

A few years ago my front derailleur's spring sprung just before a long weekend away. I had to scramble to find a replacement that would fit the bike. What I was able to get in a hurry was a Sora to replace an Ultegra. I was using downtube shifters so the front shift was friction. The Sora worked fine and it's still on the bike. I think that friction shifting the front derailleur hides a lot of sins.

I think you made great choices.

Now, if the LHT complete just came in red....

Speedo

ijgrant

Judging from the trees and the fence in the first photo, it looks like you got a 35 Foot Frame

jpmartineau

Thanks!

Another thing I like about them is that, in a glance, you can look and know what gear you're in. And in retrospect, I find that a friction shifters for the front derailler if what works best and is the least fussy.

And, yeah, that cherry red is pretty delicious.

staehpj1

I have actually never tried touring gearing with Ultegra, but have compared 105 and Tiagra with a Sugino XD600 crank and the Tiagra seemed easier to adjust for no rubbing and smoother. It probably depends on the chain ring choices.

Just a guess, but I bet that the closer to road gearing the better the Ultegra would work.

sparky221

I've heard that a lot of women have issues with index shifting brifters because they require a lot of lever travel and some require holding the lever until the chain actually completes the shift. Indexed rear and friction front shifting is the best of both worlds. The rear indexing is great on these 9+ speed cassettes. With the barcons, you actually have an idea of which gear you're in. The friction on the front is faster and allows me to tweak the adjustment as I move through the rear cassette. I love my LHT and I'm glad you're happy with yours as well. I'm still working on the perfect saddle and handlebar setup, but I'm riding the heck out of this bike.

The Hammer

I took your advice Staehpj1 and had them leave the Tiagra FD on the bike. For the first time ever, I have a store credit!!