Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Madison, WI
Posts: 11,207
Bikes: 1961 Ideor, 1966 Perfekt 3 Speed AB Hub, 1994 Bridgestone MB-6, 2006 Airnimal Joey, 2009 Thorn Sherpa, 2013 Thorn Nomad MkII, 2015 VO Pass Hunter, 2017 Lynskey Backroad, 2017 Raleigh Gran Prix, 1980s Bianchi Mixte on a trainer. Others are now gone.
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Don't be concerned about wearing out parts on a LHT that you plan to tour with. Keep up maintenance on the chain (clean and lube) and drive train. That is where most of the component wear is. And, occasionally clean the under bottom bracket plastic fitting where the derailleur cables slide.
I bought a different set of tires for my last tour, the other tires I had were too puncture prone. I plan to switch tires and save the good tires for only touring while the puncture prone ones will get used around town. I also pull my heavy steel racks off after touring and put on lighter aluminum racks. But that is for weight, not because I want to reduce miles on the touring racks.
There is an advantage to using your touring bike as your every-day-rider because you are more likely to notice a problem when you use it every day than if you only pull it out of the garage for the next tour. For this reason, I don't wait until the last minute to switch racks or tires, I set up my bike for touring and put at least 100 miles on it before I start a tour to make sure that it is running well.
That said, there are some reported problems with the rear hub on newer LHTs, so before you tour you might want to give the rear hub a close inspection.