New bike(s) suggestions wanted, lots of deets and thoughts inside!
 

I'm in the market for a new bike. My dream: a "do it all" bike leaning toward road commuting and touring. Upright-ish position, can haul tons of ****. Lightweight "enough" but burly "enough". Price must be reasonable but not extravagant.

My previous bikes:

Crosscheck - toured a lot, lightweight, but ultimately broke apart and somebody offered me a good deal, so i bought a

LHT - toured a lot, still have it. loved a lot of it, it can handle weight with such minimal vibrations, Original stock drop bars (ritchey?). Problem is i like more upright riding, especially with commuting (needing to see cars) and especially as I get older and back hurts more, and no disc brakes, so i bought a

Troll (notice a pattern? maybe i buy too many surlys :innocent:) - this is my current daily baby, with jones h-bar and ergo grips. i'd ridden trails with bikepacking bags, toured with panniers (and burly cart) and use it daily. its pretty awesome.. mostly. problems? its a bit too jeep-ish, clunky, and heavy. I like the riding position of it (in between breezer upright and long haul). something is a bit off in its weight distribution, too... riding hands off, if there's evena little weight on the rack, i get front wheel shimmy. I did not get this from the LHT or the Crosscheck, even with weird weight distribution on the back.

So those are my thoughts, gals and guys. Is there one bike out there that, while not perfect (nothing is) can bring me closer to me "do it all" mentality? Is there a easy solution like get super wide dropbars for the LHT that will make me love it again? Should I sell both the Troll and LHT and get two new bikes that would satisfy some other kind of need? Any thoughts would be super helpful (I fee like @mdilthey will have something to say), even if critical!

You mention wanting upright riding, so a super wide drop bar on the lht wouldnt help.

Novara Safari perhaps? There are some in various stores, even though it isnt available online.
REI will come out with new adventure models in early spring. Pretty sure something like the Safari will again be in the linehup.

https://www.rei.com/product/874998/n...fari-bike-2016

Looks like your perfect bike is...
- traditional touring frame design
- trekking bar for upright riding and multiple hand positions
- disc brakes
- not truck like ride

Just throwing the idea out there, look at BikesDirect.com or bikeisland.com, and search hybrids. If you know what size you are looking for and can assemble a seat post, handlebar, pedals, derailleur and disc rotors to wheels, etc, you might find what you are looking for at a bargain price. Because I read somewhere that the LHT is low quality. 😎

Is the steerer tube on the LHT cut? If not, have you raised your handlebars to top of steerer tube, or exchanged the stem on the LHT for one that is more upright (highrise) and closer to the steerer?

Also, is your ride comfortable on the hoods? Maybe a shallower dropbar would work, like the Salsa Cowchipper or the Woodchipper.

Is the LHT a good fit for you - is the top tube too long? If yes, that will bend you over more, so a shorter top tube would help.

If you are leaning toward a new bike, do compare the effective top tube length of the new bikes to your LHT and troll. If the top tubes are the same or longer, then you won't get a more upright position unless you have a longer steerer tube and upright/highrise stem.

Qwit fooling around and get a ROHLOFF14. Mine has 10,600 miles, set and forget except for the chain, cogs and lube. I saw a tall guy with one on an LHT, in Saigon.
Drops suck, yah.

Really?? I feel like this was a legit question, not a troll..

Thanks for the breakdown!! Anything else than that Novara you'd recommend?

Thats not a bike, thats a drivetrain....

Maybe go check out the Spesh Sequoia, those are pretty sweet off the shelf jobber, the riser-drops are pretty nifty. Or do what I did and go Co-Motion and they have a ton of options to fit your wants and needs. Get a frame build it up like you want it, put spacers to the moon if you want or go with a higher rise stem or both and win.

That comment wasn't directed towards you or your post...it relates to another comment about the LHT which in the past has made some interesting reads in threads that have veered way off course.

Ah cool, got it! I can imagine the topic comes up, so I tried to give as detailed an intro without overwhelming :)

Co-motion looks beautiful! (the Sequoia has drops, no?) Which one did you get?

Dont mind that poster, he just tells everyone to get with the program and use a rohloff.

bikiola, A new bike wanted is a little different from a new bike needed. If the steerer tube on your LHT has been cut too short for where you'd really like like to have it, there are stems with different angles and extensions available along with the option of an uncut replacement fork to improve your fitment.

Brad

Seems like you are asking too much. For me, a commuting bike and touring bike are way different. Light and burley? My good weather commuter is a cross check, full steerer tube, short, steep stem. My current touring bike is a Karate Monkey, flat bars with a sweep, plus bar ends. For me, that ends up being upright with multiple, comfortable hand positions. Not light though with a sus fork, 35 mm rims and 29x2.3 slicks. But burley, great for dirt roads and single track. First decide if you want flat or drop bars. So many options in the drop bar adventure type bike. How wide of a tire do you want to run? Fenders, racks, frame bags, bottle mounts? All things to consider. Spec, Kona, Salsa Jamis and more to look at.

Thanks all. Food for thought. A new bike wanted is certainly not needed. Just thought it might be nice to really think about what I like and don't like, and move from there.

I'm not sure about the cut steerer tube on my LHT. I know I used to love riding aggressively in the drops (and drops only) of the Crosscheck/LHT, but nowadays the ergo/jones bar on the troll is a dream. Last night I took the LHT out for a spin and felt so hunched over and unhappy about it. I guess what I want is a super lightweight troll, a man can dream.

https://www.evanscycles.com/en-us/bikes/touring-bikes_c

There are some touring bikes on this site which fit what you have mentioned you want(upright position, disc brakes, etc).
https://www.evanscycles.com/en-us/da...-bike-EV274350
https://www.evanscycles.com/en-us/ri...-bike-EV289256


Your ideal seems to be a euro touring bike- butterfly bars, simple diamond frame, disc brakes, mid-level reliable components.

Depends on lot on what you like and your budget also. Sounds like you've been around the block a few times. I'm pretty much against the idea of a do-it-all. The perfect touring bike won't be the perfect road bike, etc. So what compromises are you willing to make? or no compromises at all? Tweeking what you've got sounds good, different hbar, maybe different rear wheels for commuting and touring. Certainly the cheapest route. Is weight a big issue?
I bought a 15-25 cassette for the Katy Trail, might be real nice for commuting also. I really like my Trek 920 with brifters. You might take a look at that.
A Ti Lyndsky for commuting would be super, also super expensive. A Calfee tourer? Probly not either. A lot of "Adverture bikes " now. Would be good for commuting and light touring. Not much out there for heavy touring, outside of Co-motion? No perfect answer, my opinion doesn't count for your riding.
And speaking of, What about the Co-motion Deusche?

Why would I get a different h-bar? I have the stock 710mm bar. Maybe a shorter stem with more aggressive rise?

bikiola, The LHT hits most of the items it reads you're looking for, except that now you'd like a less aggressive posture. If the stem is at the top of the steerer tube you'll need an extension or an upward angle for the stem. If the current stem angles down (not just 90 degrees to the steerer tube) you can flip it upside down to raise the handlebars.

Brad

On my LHT which I bought new with an uncut steerer, I could not get the bars up high enough. Mine is a 26" 54cm model...I replaced the fork because I wanted another 10-15mm of spacers. The uncut steerer on the 54cm showed less steerer than the other sized models; a 56cm LHT came with a steerer that was 50mm longer, you could fit a huge stack of spacers on that one!

I also replaced the stem as suggested by others. The bars are about 1.5-2" above the seat. I have the stock dropbars and am on the hoods 90% of the time. I use the other positions to give myself a break.

What about changing the bars on your LHT to a different type that would move your favorite hand position closer in? Say Jones H-Bar, Trekking bars or something? I don't know enough to tell you about different bars, I use dropbars and am happy with them for now.

What hand position do you use on the Troll mostly?

Jon

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/477/31...cc6f2c64_b.jpg

If you want the love child between the LHT and the troll, check out the velo orange Piolet. It's on my maybe list and that's a short list for me.

I own a Co-Motion Cascadia with a XT-CX70 Sugino Alpina 2 Triple 9 speed Drivetrain and Dura-Ace DT shifters on Gevenalle Levers with TRP Spyre disc brakes. I wish maybe I had a touch less toe overlap at lower speeds with my fenders and now I am wishing I had done a contactless dynamo set up but aside from that I love it to death.

The Sequoia has their own drops which start at the stem as a rise bar and then go into a more of a flared drop. It is quite a nice ride and has clearance for days. If I hadn't built up the Co-Motion so recently I might highly consider a Sequoia with some modifications.

Thanks all again for your continued engagement :-)

I took a look at the VO Piolet, that really does look exciting.

I also like the Sequoia (I had no idea it existed; I think I'm not quite in the hype train vanguard and didn't realize, from some poking aroud, how popular this bike is on the web). But I really do think that I need to not have drops. I just took the LHT out for a ride yesterday and hated being in the drops. I think I'm all hoods now (on drop bars) or on flat bar. My troll's h-bars are pretty great, but sometimes they feel sluggish. I know I'm being picky, but still appreciate all the thoughts I'm reading here...

Does anyone have experience with the Soma Wolverine? That one also looks like it might be a nice hybrid "adventure" upright that I can confidently run unloaded and pretty zippy...

I would give it a try first. The stock LHT/DT bars aren't anything special and I was glad I replaced mine with Zipp Service Course SL 70 Ergo bars (and a shorter stem on my DT) and I am still happy to this day. I did like the Sequoia bars but I would like them to have the flat top section for comfort.

Drop bars however aren't always for everyone and you could probably get different bars and other Shimano Hydro levers (XT/XTR) and some Paul Thumbies and Bar ends and have a pretty rad set up. Plus you could then sell the bars and "brifters" for decent coin. Doesn't make a ton of sense but an option if you ended up loving the Sequoia like I do.