I know that a lot of people have toured vast distances on a LHT, but I was very disappointed with my LHT this year for loaded touring from Astoria OR to San Fransisco CA. The frame flex was significant and I had a noticeable oscillation. I am not new to touring, I have done several tours on my Thorn Sherpa (26 inch wheels) with heavier loads on both pavement and on gravel.

Since this trip was going to be all on pavement and there were going to be a lot of hills, I decided to bring my 2004 LHT instead of a Thorn because the LHT is a few pounds lighter and since the whole trip would be on pavement I thought that the 700c tires would be a little better. Within my first 20 miles I knew I made a mistake. But it was too late to switch bikes, my Thorn was at home thousands of miles away. So I just had to go slower, do more downhill braking, take corners really slow and deal with it the best I could. I tried to shift weight all over the place but never got it to the point where I could be really comfortable with it. By the end of the trip my front panniers had only my least dense stuff and my handlebar bag was about half empty.



I do not know if my LHT has out of specification tubing or what. I did a trip with Adventure Cycling a couple years ago, of the 16 of us, four had their LHTs (three 700c and one 26 inch) and all were happy with them. But I think all of them were the newer frame re-design whereas my LHT is from the first year of LHT production, which of course is far out of the short three year warranty that expired almost seven years ago (I bought the frame in Nov 2004). All I can say with certainty is that my LHT is never going to see a full load of camping gear again.

The LHT is a good commuter, but put a load on it and it handled like a wet noodle.

My Sherpa (photo below) has performed much better on quite a few trips.