Yeah, it is a pretty heavy bike...but all touring bikes are heavy. The wheels are not the greatest for touring and you may need to get a smaller small chainring, but it wouldn't be that hard to change these things.

The cost for fenders, new saddle and rear rack to fix up a LHT wouldn't be much different than a new wheelset for the Sojoun.

And the Avid disk brakes are easier to work on than cantilevers-- anybody can fix them with just a few tools.