Bike Hermit

I'm curious what the opinions are on the component changes to the Long Haul Trucker complete bike. A summary:
-Tektro CR720 brake calipers instead of Tektro Oryx.
-slight upgrade to bottom bracket (no more plastic cup)
-Cane Creek 40 headset replaces the Ritchey Comp
and to offset these:
-Less expensive front and rear derailleurs, Sora in front and LX in rear.
-LX hubs replace the XT's
To my mind these are all good changes making the bike even a better value. The derailleurs should work as well and be at least as durable. Not sure about the hubs. The XT's have an oversize aluminum axle and the LX's have a standard steel one, which does allow for bigger bearings in the rear, but I don't know about overall durability.

fietsbob

Change things that you don't like, or want different, , and know,
Just replacing things along the way .. It happens.

they, product managers that order the bikes from the TW contract factory,
make choices, that either they think will help sell them,
negotiated the best price , for the job lot they needed.
or just meet the price target to get the price acceptable.

like XT is probably a cherry pick.. visible, bling up the pick list.

Or LX, just went down a notch to keep within target price point.

the dealer you buy the bike thru would give you a take-off trade in ,
and put the wheels of your choice on.
and ETC. all along the list.

trafficcasauras

ive bought 4 bikes the last 3 years, and i plan on downgrading everything! the cheaper the better!

Lasse

Hubs LX instead of XT is an upgrade for as far as durability is concerned, will be a bit heavier though.

Are you sure about the BB metal cup? It still says Shimano UN-54 on their site, it's the 55 that has a metal cup instead of plastic if I'm not mistaken?

Doug64

What is this based on?

Sirrus Rider

I don't blame you. Most of the upper end stuff is geared to racing and to the professional racing model no less. Where you run components (hard!) for a season then sell off and or scrap it for all new kit the next year

bwgride

A number who use the newer XT hub with aluminum axle report failures; you should be able to find example reports with a search of these forums or on the net. If the model XT contained a steel axle (e.g., M750 or M755) then changing to LX probably won't make a difference in durability, but if changing to LX from an XT model with aluminum axle (e.g., M770 or M778), I agree the LX is better for a touring bike.

dcrowell

I actually just upgraded my LHT's brakes to the CR720s. I like them.

I don't know about the hubs. I hope the new XT hubs are good, I just had a new rear wheel built with a new XT hub (front is an Alfine dynohub, had two new wheels built and kept originals as spare).

I doubt the other parts make much difference. I hated the look of the plastic cap on the BB, but it's been working with no issues for 6700 miles or so.

fietsbob

.. Based on the steel axle hub uses the proven 1/4" balls as their main bearing.
the aluminum axle needs to be fatter to not break, often,
and the sacrifice is the wheel's axle bearing balls are needing to be reduced in size.

Doug64

Are 9-14" bearings better than 13-3/16" bearings? Why? How much weaker is the aluminum axle? We've gone around about this on this forum before, and there was not any case that I can remember where anyone actually had a XT axle failure. It was mostly unsupported speculation and hear say. I run both LX and XT hubs and hopefully live long enough to see at least one set fail!

Lasse

According to "Leerboek wentellagers", SKF, 1985:
"In general, maximum load on a ball bearing is proportional to outer diameter of bearing times width of bearing (where width is measured in direction of axle)."
So smaller bearings = lower maximum load, if outer diameter is equal.
According to techdocs.shimano.com (exploded views of the hubs; FH-M770 vs FH-M580) the LX rear hub has more seal rings, this might be an added benefit but I'm not sure the more expensive hubs don't have an alternative to keep out the dirt (I don't see any alternative in the docs though).

BigBlueToe

My first thought would be to trust Surly's decisions. (I know, naive perhaps. Call me Pollyanna if you wish.) So far they've proven pretty smart in designing the LHT. Based on what I've seen, it's probably outselling all the other tourers by far.

I built my LHT up from a frame so I have no one to blame but myself for bad component choices. So far, I haven't had a single problem, and I love the bike.

Doug64

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Agreed, but the question is: are 9 big ones better than 13 small ones? I really think this argument is academic, and that either size or configuration is more than adequate for bike touring. Heck, I'm a biologist not an engineer!

I don't understand this part of the statement.

Having serviced both XT and LX hubs, I think the XT has as good or better seals than the LX. I would have gone with the LX hubs, just due to price, if they were available when I had the wheels built. I was a little anxious when I realized the XT hubs had an aluminum axle, but it does not seem to be a problem. I have about 4,500 miles on the XT hubs including a fully loaded 2900 mile tour that covered over 400 miles of unpaved roads and trails, over 500 mile of cobblestones, and experienced 35 days of rain.

I believe that the XT hubs are harder to adjust correctly than the LX, resulting in many of the perceived problems. They cannot be pre-loaded while adjusting them. They just take a little more care to set up. Like Bike Blue Toe, I built up both my wife's and my touring bikes, and can only blame myself if something does not work.

fietsbob

Let the hangers-on here know.. As a mechanic who worked on Shimano stuff
thru the 80's-90's
in bike shops , for many summers. My touring rigs went for simple durable,
reliable and proven..
Shifting was not indexed , but friction, bar end, and a Phil Wood freewheel hub.

now y'all have a good tour, whatever you get.. it's about going somewhere,
not shopping, in the end.
Don't get too OCD on minutiae.

dcrowell

Sage advice, but it's winter. Getting hung up on the minutiae is what we do during the cold months.

Doug64

.

Yup

Altamont

Call it the thrill of the hunt

choteau

The part i read on the new specs was ....64cm frame size wooooo finally a frame close to big enough....

Tourist in MSN

I do not think anyone has actually had the Aluminum axle fail, it is a large diameter chunk of metal and is quite robust. There however were several reported failures of bearings and one or two reported failures of the freehub to hub body connection on the LHT forum on Google Groups soon after the switch to Aluminum axle XT hubs. Those reported failures were early after the switch and I do not know if there was an early problem that was later fixed or not.

I have an Aluminum axle front hub (M770) on one of my bikes, I got the hub at a good price and I have not heard of any front M770 hub problems. So, I would not have any concerns about the front hubs. But I have stayed with steel axles for all of my rear hubs.

JensM

Waiting for that one myself.

Hopefully they get them out soon and without delay...