Originally Posted by
mtnbke
The truth is that a lugged steel bike isn't dependable. Lugs don't work well but only the lightest of touring loads.
That's just crazy talk. Where are you obtaining these "truths"? Apparently all those thousands of miles of loaded touring that I have done on terrible lugged steel frames were a disaster.
Originally Posted by
mtnbke
A Cannondale ST is and was actually stronger and stiffer than ANY touring bike that was available at the time. However, the ST revealed something. The strongest and stiffest loaded touring bike does NOT have to be compromise. The aluminum Cannondale ST is a veritable rocket bike, that can climb like a mountain goat (without racks, fenders, etc), and sprint in a spirited group ride. That do everything bike is actually a BETTER loaded touring bike than most bikes designed for loaded touring, which it was as well.
The Cannondale ST touring bikes aren't tanks? They were the strongest bike frames on the planet at the time and still going strong (rust free) three decades later, after thousands of miles and countless owners.
I backed my ST800 into a garage on the roof rack of the car, bent up the fork which needed bending back. Frame's still fine without nary a crack, and I'm well over 350lbs. Put me on your lugged or steel touring bike and see if that holds up. The answer the lugs wouldn't hold and the steel tubing would fail.
Surly LHT suck. They are heavy and a cult as much as a bike. The hilarious thing is that every LHT owner could have had a Cannondale ST for pennies on the dollar and ended up with a better, faster, stronger, stiffer, better climbing bike, and better touring bike from Craigslist. Which is where most LHTs go after they post and upload the requisite build pics to social media. LHT is a cult of building bikes, you show me someone who like riding one and I'll show you someone who either doesn't know a damn thing about bikes or is intellectually dishonest.
This is more than a little over the top. Obviously you like Cannondales. However, all bikes have pros and cons, and all designs are compromises. Perhaps there are a number of bikes out there that are not designed to hold up "well over 350 lbs" while your Cannondale will and so it is a good fit for you. However, in that instance one has to ask if the Cannondale is perhaps inappropriate for folks who only weigh 150. You are making absolute statements about matters of opinion, and using those opinions as though they are facts to insult vast swaths of bike riders. These tactics do not make your arguments believable.