I'd say that Surly did a great job of filling a niche in the bike market by taking a ground up approach to the design of the LHT. I did a frame up build and no matter what components you put on the frame, it makes an outstanding bike for the intended purpose. I look forward to many years with my LHT and I think this is the first bike I've owned that I couldn't already see where I'd be looking for the next best thing.