I thought you had gone a bit daft when you wrote you replaced the 26 with a 24, but then I looked it up. Surly is now selling the LHT with a 26. It used to be a 24.

OP: I would recommend doing this swap. The 520 also has a small ring of 26.

I bought my first LHT in '08. When it was stolen in late '10, I bought another one. As a big guy, one thing I have been impressed with is the wheelset. I crossed the country in '99 on a Cannondale T-700 with wheels that were not up to the task of carrying the heavy load I had, which included a lot of photo equipment. I can tell you first hand that constant wheel problems on tour suck big time. By the time I got to OH, a shop found cracks around almost every eyelet of the rear rim. Before I went to Spain the follwing winter, I discovered similar crack in the front rim.


My LHT wheels have performed flawlessly. In addition to serving as my daily commuter on the crappy streets of Philly, my current LHT has been on at least three 3-day tours and one 10-day tour in MT which included 60 miles of unpaved roads, some of them rough. The wheels have never needed truing. I just rode it on the rugged roads of d2r2. They are as true as ever.

With all that said, fit is the paramount concern.