"The fact that you are thinking of upgrading already suggests the Surly is less than you want. Please let us know. I don't want to buy the Surly frame and build it up if I'll immediately want to upgrade to a Heron."

Here's the thing: the Surly Long Haul Trucker is almost a carbon copy of the Rivendell Atlantis, geometry-wise, right down to using 26" wheels on frame sizes below 56cm and 700C wheels above. That's why I got one. If you wrapped an Atlantis and the equivalently sized LHT in duct tape(!), put identical components on them and rode both, I doubt you'd be able to tell which was which. The LHT is cheaper for the following reasons: 1) It's tig-welded in Taiwan rather than hand-brazed in Japan, 2) It's made out of generic double-butted chromoly, compared to the custom tube mix on the Atlantis, 3) It doesn't have beautiful lugs, and 4) It's got a single-tone (quite nice) powdercoat paintjob compared to the two-tone job on the Atlantis.

Other than that, they're virtually the same bike. Since most of a frame's ride qualities come from its geometry rather than its material (despite what the magazines claim), the LHT is a near-perfect Atlantis substitute for those who can't afford a Rivendell.

Photos of my 60cm LHT here: http://photos.yahoo.com/murraylove