Originally Posted by
brotherdan
The longer wheelbase is the main advantage, right? It's length helps to dampen vibrations and shocks, and the longer chainstay will alleviate problems resulting from heel strike on the rear panniers. Mid-fork brazeons make for sturdier front rack mounting, and the positioning of the third water bottle cage should make it much easier to access my third water bottle, and allow me to use a full size bottle in that cage.
But is there anything else I'm missing? Are the sum total of the advantages of my $400 upgrade listed in the above paragraph?
I can't help with the buyers remorse. I don't know the Volpe well enough to say where or if the LHT is better than the Volpe. A wild ass guess would be that your immediate reaction to the ride unloaded may not be all smiles because it will ride differently than the Volpe and it's attributes aren't as evident until loaded down. Every time I ride the LHT with a full grocery load with front and rear panniers loaded it becomes obvious. "oh yeah".
Build the Volpe back up as a single chainring 8-9spd light wheeled around town bike and there's no remorse.