georgiaboy

Some rumors going around based on an article in Adventure Cycling stating that the 2007 Long Haul Trucker will be offered for sale as a complete bike.

Anyone have info on this?

Bekologist

That's the talk anyways-

currently, you pick and choose your gruppo options on the LHT or get the 'standard' package, but it is all still individual components. When they offer the 'complete bike' next year, this just means the bikes get put in the boxes with the gruppo partially installed, and all the little bits to make a complete bike (bar tape, for example) instead of frames only. no big.

it will likely save you a little money, as bike components boxed with raw bikes at volume and placed in the boxes overseas usually translate to a savings to the customers versus buying all components as separate items....

georgiaboy

From the Surly website:

Complete bikes - available spring 2007
Long Haul Trucker, blue color only under $1000 MSRP

https://www.surlybikes.com/2006_10_01_blog_archive.html

garagegirl

Yaaaaaayyyyyy!

Bekologist

talk about proletariat! pushing the pedals to the people....

NoReg

Hmm, end of an era. They loose focus on just producing a great frame, and the next thing you know it's in Walmart, or worse still, your neighbor buys one.

O-Town

I say the more LHT's on the road the better. As long as the quality doesn't change.

Last I checked Walmart is known for selling crap bikes...Don't think you will be seeing LHT's there any time soon.

Dahon.Steve

Lets hope they get the specs right and not build a touring bike with low gears. It would not make any sense to build a LHT with Sora or 105.

centexwoody 

What's inappropriate about using Sora or 105? Is there a mechanical deficiency that you are asserting? Or that the design elegance & quality of the LHT has greater potential than that level of components can deliver?

tacomee

Surly is the hot name in touring bikes right now-- so the price is going up and up. Surly frames are 4310 cromoloy steel wielding together in the same group of Asian frame shops as Jamis, Fuji and Winsor, ect....

The LHT has longer chainstays than most and a very good powder coat. It's a quality bike that's worth owning. But it's no Bruce Gordon custom.

Fuji touring bikes seem really out of favor with buyers right now. That's too bad, becuase Fuji has the same steel frame as the Surly bikes and over 70 years of history building touring bikes. Fuji touring bikes have made every possible trip you could think of-- they are really the old school touring bikes. (BTW, Fuji hasn't made huge changes to their touring bikes in 25 years-- they have made some upgrades, but it is roughly the same frame and gearing)

velo2000

I stopped by a local bike shop tonight (Cycle Analyst in Denver) and I noticed they had the Surly 2007 catalog with prices. The Long Haul Trucker was priced at $1734.99 for the complete bike. I don't remember all the specs, but it did have an XT rear derailleur and hubs (and I think a Tiagra front derailleur and some kind of Shimano bar end shifters). I can't remember any other specifics about the components, but it looked like a well put together bike.

I haven't seen any other prices for the complete LHT so I thought I'd post this info. Anyone else seen a price for the complete LHT? For comparison, this shop sells the LHT fork for around $90 (I've seen it for $72 online). So perhaps not the cheapest price, but a LBS usually never is.

TruckerMike

The Surly website reports the price to be under $1000 for complete bike, blue only, and available in Spring 2007. Spec's aren't up yet.

velo2000

Just to clarify my post, the $1734.99 price was the retail price set by the bike shop. They had the 2007 catalog with the full spec detailed. I know the surly blog said under $1000 msrp for the complete bike, but maybe that was a low estimate on their part? Maybe someone else could ask their local Surly dealer if they have the 2007 catalog and if they have a retail price for the complete LHT?

Monoborracho

I recently priced an LHT at a bike shop. The shop's price on the QBP book's recommended build was ~$1100 and they said they would sell it for over $1600.

By contrast the Fuji touring MSRP is $910 with Tiagra brifters, and additional Tektro brake levers, so you can probably buy it for a little less than that. You could buy the Fuji, change out the chainring to a little lower gearing, put a set of Continental or Schwalbe tires on it, and have a really good big name touring bike. Fuji is a great brand which, as you say, is currently not in vogue.

sean999

The LHT has 18.1" chainstays, vs 17.3" for the Fuji. Is that difference enough to affect how the bikes handle when heavily loaded in the rear? Or how about hands-off stability during ordinary riding (daily commute with light load)? Wheelbase is nearly identical: 42" on LHT, 41.9" on Fuji.

I'm looking for a tourer-like do-it-all bike to replace my '99 Volpe (stolen recently). I want something that is more stable with a big load of groceries or touring load, or with hands-off riding, than my Volpe was. The '99 Volpe had 16.9" chainstays and a 40.9" wheelbase. I assume that either the LHT or Fuji would be a big improvement on my old Volpe (newer Volpes are even tighter), but I wonder if the LHT is noticably better than the Fuji.

Bekologist

the "complete" Surly Crosschecks are about half the price of QBP's recommended buildup quoted here by Monoborraccho;

I'd bet the complete Long Haul Trucker will have a similar price break ratio.

With all the prepress and talk about complete LHT's coming in at under 1,000 bucks, I have every expectation they will be offered at or around the 1,000 dollar mark.

i'd even assume scads of complete LHTs are already boxed up and on the slow boat from China, so to speak.

NoReg

Almost 1" in chainstay length is significan't. The more the better. I haven't found the wheel base figures for various bikes reliable. Most touring bikes are pretty conventional: same seattube and head angles, and top tube lengths about the same length as seatube lengths, at least in the mid sizes. On that basis you can't have longer seatstays and not have it show up directly in WB, and you can't have the same seatstay lengths on all the bikes in the range and not have frame size lengths push out wheelbases, unless they are making some weird assumptions about torso lengths.

Sure LHTs aren't Bruce Gordons, that's an apples and oranges kind of comparison. LHTs are what you buy to figure out what size of Gordon you need, or whether you need one at all. What would be cool would be if the higher volumes would free up a few more options, like wheel size choices across the size range.

chipcom 

Yep, they discontinued the World, which is what I have, last year. I talked to a guy at Fuji via email wondering why they discontinued it - he said there just wasn't much call for a $1500 touring bike?

Canadiense

I stopped into Free Range Cycles in Seattle this past weekend. The complete LHT will be $930.

sean999

At $930 for a comlete bike, this is becoming more intriguing! Can anyone here say with much authority when these will be available, and what the components are like?

BostonFixed

The only other bike that surly offers complete (crosscheck) is also available as a frame..so I have no doubts that they continue offering the lht as a frame..but if the frame costs roughly 1/2 the complete..that may not be much a choice.

GiantDave

I'm glad they're be selling a complete bike. Now I can tell my friends to wait till next year to buy one assembled and quit pestering me to build one for them .

sean999

So nobody has info on when this will be in shops, or what components it'll have?

vik 

The Surly website says complete LHTs available Spring 2007.

NoReg

"The only other bike that surly offers complete (crosscheck) is also available as a frame..so I have no doubts that they continue offering the lht as a frame..but if the frame costs roughly 1/2 the complete..that may not be much a choice."

I hear you. I'm mostly joking, though even from your coment we can see it's a race to the bottom - prices so low who could pass them by, like super sizing fries.