Hey there;

Currently, I am selling my road bike (it's too small for me now, and, besides, Lance and George arn't going to call) and plan on getting a Surley LHT to use as my primary ride, leaving my Trek 7200 fx as more of a play bike to ride with friends and family. What I'm trying to decide is: should I get a frame and build it up (ordering exactly the components I want; this will probably be the most time consuming and expensive option), get the complete bike from the LBS, or get the complete bike from the LBS that has had better parts installed? I'm not real big on bar-end shifters, so I know that I'll be going with STI shifters at some point.

So I guess the question is really, are the parts that come on the stock LHT good enough that they will last through a few years of commuting (with the possible tour and other trip thrown in), or would I be better of in the long run with something like Shimano XT components on it from the start?

My commute is ~20 miles round trip, and I'll probably be doing that 3-5 times a week starting this fall (when work picks back up, summers off is a great thing), so durability will be a key here.

Thanks,
D