I have a 60cm LHT set up as a road bike (i.e: non-touring) with 700c x 28 tires. I love this bike, and except for such accessories I've added such as seat bag, handlebar bag, and cyclocomputer, it's pretty much perfect as-is.
I use MKS pedals that are made for old-fashioned toe clips and straps, as I have big feet and prefer to ride in "regular" shoes. Works for me.
I also am a big fan of the bar-end shifters. This is the first and only bike I've ever ridden with them, and was a little apprehensive about them, thinking that they would be difficult to reach, but I took to them right away. I don't know that I would ever go back to brifters. I definitely recommend them for a touring bike, just from the reliability standpoint. When my LHT was just about 200 miles old I started hearing a crunching or grinding noise from the vicinity of the bottom bracket, and since it was time for the first recommended tune-up anyway, I took it in to the LBS. They found that the front derailleur hanger wasn't sufficiently tightened down to the tube and the front derailleur had rotated out of position and was hitting the chainrings in certain gears. The only thing I noticed was the noise - it still shifted perfectly. I bet that wouldn't have been the case with brifters.