Originally Posted by
jethro56
The bikes the salesman said were "right" for me were touring (LHT, Trek 520) I hated the barends and no offense to the LHT lovers but it felt like a tank on a 5 mile test
In late '09, I went looking to ride an LHT after drooling over them on these forums and the Surly web page for months. I also found I wasn't keen on the bar end shifters and wanted brifters. Now, I could have worked something out with the shop and had a frameset built up to my specs, but I blundered into a deal on an end-of-year clearance on a Bianchi Imola. After riding several aluminum frame bikes, the steel framed Imola felt slinky to me.
It's perhaps unfair to compare the LHT to an Imola, since the Imola is more in the category of "road bike" and not "touring bike." But for my criteria, look, and feel, it was a great deal at the price I got.
There's a cross version of it, the Volpe.
http://www.bianchiusa.com/bikes/gran-fondo/
Food for thought.