Originally Posted by
no1mad
Squash the touring talk for now. OP has stated he would like to do some travelling with the bike, not necessarily go touring with it. Also, touring covers a lot of different territory- we talking Credit Card, supported, or self contained? The LHT is going to be overkill for the commute and CC tours (this is assuming the OP can handle drop bars); a mtb w/ some less aggressive, but still dirt capable, tread or a dual sport should work for now.
Ultimately, it's the OP's decision. Given his uncertainity about a bunch of stuff, he really should be shopping for/at the LBS and doing test rides. We could make suggestions until the end of time, but in the end it doesn't really matter. How many times as something looked really sweet in a 2D representation on a computer screen- only to find out there's something revealed by the test ride that makes you stop and go "I ain't so sure this is the one afterall..."?
I don't think that the LHT is overkill for commuting but it's not the proper tool for what Eugene_B wants to do in
his commuting. While he could ride a rigid bike over that terrain...I did much worse for 10+ years during the bad old days of mountain biking...he would find a hardtail mountain bike with a front suspension would handle the job much easier with less headache. If he wants to travel with it, it would do that job too. In fact he might find places to go where the charms of the mountain bike would shine and take him on adventures that an LHT would not.