Originally Posted by
IvanK-
I think the crank was also LX, but I can't remember for sure. The one thing that did get my attention was that it had a chain guard. A bit strange to see.
Can't go with a LHT. I'm not interested in 26" wheels and they come with the frame size I'd need.
As far as shimmy on fast descents, I hadn't heard that about the 520, but a imperfect frame could cause that.
The shimmy I've heard from people going cross country on 520's as well as a shop owner.
I was in a similar position, wanted 700c wheels for touring on a 52cm bike that I could also do road riding with. So I used a Crosscheck for my first tour (2K miles, ~6 weeks) but had to get a frame builder to put on the braze-ons for the front rack. I guess you could use P clamps but I was a little uncertain about them.
Hindsight being 20/20, I should have just gotten the LHT, because the 26" wheels would have required less truing and a 3rd bottle braze on would have been nice, as well as the spoke holder braze-on (even though I didn't break any). I ended up carrying 40 lbs loaded with food and water, which wasn't a ridiculous amount but I still had to true my wheels a bit.
It just seems like you'd be taking a bike and replacing the wheels and drivetrain and probably saddle anyhow, so why not start out with just a frameset?