Here's my new Surly Long Haul Trucker - not normally considered a road bike, but I have it set up for road use:















I chose this bike because I wanted a steel frame bike with dropped bars and a triple crankset. I'm sort of a Retrogrouch, and I really like all of the old-fashioned features of the LHT - the bar-end shifters, the braze-ons for downtube shifter if I want 'em, mounts for fenders and panniers, etc. The bike is set up with 700 x 28 tires instead of the normal touring 700 x 35's.

I also wanted a sturdy heavy-duty bike with 36 spoke wheels - I'm a pretty big guy at 6' - 2-1/2" and 255 lbs, with 24" inch wide shoulders, a 54: chest and 38" waist, a 36" standover, and U.S. size 14 feet, and was concerned that some of these lightweight racing bikes would fold up on the bumpy roads in my AO. So far I am extremely pleased with my choice.