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low spoke count wheels are not heresy anymore than performance car tires are heresy. If a person was light with a light load and a skilled rider they wouldn't need the durability a heavy person with heavy load who tends to crash through pot holes would need. If you do fast local rides where a wheel repair or replacement is an inconvenience instead of a trip stopper you have less of a need for durability. But if you market a bike with a mondo big front rack for carrying heavy loads it implies the total package is designed for heavy loads.
You can put sticky performance tires on a pickup truck and wear them out in 10k miles, it isn't heresy to do that but why do it?

I also commute on it so it gets knocked around by careless people using the same bike rack. Their pedals hitting my spokes and the like. We have five bikes on the first floor of my small house. My LHT is stored against my GF's LHT. I have snagged her pedals on my spokes plenty of times. The truings were very minor.

I bent my RD hanger on my first LHT, which had he same wheel build. before it was stolen. It was during the winter so I wasn't riding much. Figured I wait until spring to get it fixed. Spring rolls around and I forget about the bent hanger. Take it out for a ride and decide to see what the lowest gear feels like going up a steep hill. RD cage goes right into the spokes and literally explodes into many pieces. Rear wheel is barely tweeked. I have complete confidence in my wheels.

Your experience with Bontrager rims matches what I have heard over the years about some of their pre-built wheels.

if you go back to the beginning of the thread, there were a couple links
to reviews of the bike. in the comments section there were multiple
reports of multiple spoke breakage on short moderately loaded tours.

I haven't been on here due to the negativity but I did really appreciate all the nice comments I recieved from quite a lot of people. There are a lot of nice folks on here and I shouldn't let a few sour apples bother me! I do appreciate everyone's help! Although I loved the Trek 920 it just is too big and I bought a Salsa Marrakesh which is the perfect size for me. I recently bought a new road bike and was sized perfectly! My roadie is a Trek Emonda SL 8 and the geometry on the Marrakesh is almost identical. I still have a lot to learn about Dynamo lights and to save up to buy all the panniers and camping gear. But happy riding everyone!!

janine

Janine, in the end, it's just a bike, so that's great that you have more than one that fit you well, may you enjoy your riding and getting out on whatever you are on, that's the main thing, having fun.
Cheers

Thank you! It is great fun! Gonna tackle the Katy Trail this year before its trashed if that bill gets passed allowing atv's on it. Then I want to ride the Florida keys.

The bill is about changing ATV's from once a month , on a Wed. to every Wed. There's a state rep that takes seniors and disabled vets for a ride on the trail. Handicapped tags required. I jumped to the same conclusion, but changed my mind fairly quickly. There's a thread about this from a few months ago.

There are also 2 places on the trail that allow horses within a certain range of 2 commercial horse stables.
Personally I think the ATV's should be limited to a certain range around this person's set up. Not the whole trail.
I don't think it's gonna be a bunch of rednecks with shotguns on their ATV's running over bicycles.

Hello. What's this thread about?

best post i seen in years brilliant.

Alzheimer's ...I think... Who are you?...

ha! that's easy! it's about buying a $2K adventure bike
with third-rate components and the inability of said
latte-grinder to navigate anything more technical than
the astroturf pathways at a putt-putt minigolf park.

yip starting to loose it right enough.

Y'all keep yappin about the Marrakesh, but the Deadwood is Salsa's true competitor to the Trek 920.

I think I must agree. A small issue the 920 comes with racks. change to brifters on the 920 about the same price, about the same wt.

Yeah, but with the Salsa you get to pick whatever rack system you want. You aren't paying for racks you might not use if you're bikepacking, and you aren't paying for racks you might not necessarily pick if you were speccing the bike yourself.

Congrats on the Marrakesh!

Regarding dynamos:
Schmidt SON are the acknowledged best, and most expensive.
Shimano offers many dynamos at different price levels, but even their best (-80 series) are considered not as good as a SON (a touch more drag, etc).
SP is a newer manufacturer (5 years, maybe?), and their dynamos are considered better and lighter than Shimanos at a nice low price.

I have two Shimano dynamos (DH-3N80 and a DH-T780), and they work great. They can be found for excellent prices from European bike websites; I paid less than $70 for the 3N80 and $175 for a complete T780 wheelset.
I also have a SP PD-8 wheel that I found used, and it works great as well.
I can't feel any difference in performance between the Shimano and SP dynamo hubs.

For lights, more lux means a brighter light, but some lights have better or worse beam patterns. I've bought all my lights from the German bike shop websites for great prices.

Here's some more reading on dynamos and lights:
Lighting systems
https://momentummag.com/what-you-nee...namo-lighting/
https://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/te.../index_en.html
https://www.bikelightdatabase.com/be...%5D=vis360plus


Regarding panniers:
I've tried a couple and my favorites are Ortliebs, because they're waterproof and their attachment system is very, very easy to use. Again, best deals are found overseas, but they do come on sale on REI and other US stores from time to time.

The Marrakesh looks like a cool bike, but isn't the Fargo more similar to the 920?

Well I've never heard of any place on the Katy allowing atv's and all the media states they aren't allowed currently. I've been following as I have friends that have a bike shop on the Katy.

Atv's mess up the trail by rutting it is the issue not guns. It's about the integrity of the trail.

Thanks for all the great info. I went to Peter Whites site first off but so much info there!! I did read an article comparing one of the sp models to the son showing the same quality. I'm gonna take time to study it all so I understand. I live in the country and love good lights.

I have one ortleilb pannier backpack although wearing it riding was weird bc it was a bit tall for me. But it works great. I was leaning towards the arkel bc of the compartments easier to organize stuff for me.

Thanks for all the info tho the gear for touring's gonna cost more than the bike! Lol!

I haven't fingered out the photo thing yet or would post a pic of my new ride.

Cheers!!

I haven't really looked at it. I was essentially looking for a fully loaded touring road bike. I loved the look of the 920 and thought I could use it for both. My salesman at my lbs thought it would work for bike packing but for tech trails I can't see it. I do have a specialized fsr Myka.

My name is janine and I'm a girl. I would NEVEr insult myself with a nick name like squeezebox.

Lol so true!!!