Okay, I finally bit the bullet and am selling my trusty '84 Nishiki International. It carried me for about 5 and 1/2 weeks through Europe last year and I have done some short tours at home in BC, Canada on it and commuted on it all the time. A great old bike and built to last but with greater ambitions and occasional forays on rough paths in Europe (especially north coast of england) I found myself want for higher volume tires and the extra chainstay clearance was of course a bonus.

I debated for a few week over a Cannondale and the Surly. I work in a shop that sells C-dale but I could also get surly through one of our suppliers. Without a doubt the quality of craftsmanship on the C-dale is higher. The welding is sloppy on the LHT and the brake bosses are not even. No worse than my Nishiki but no better. Such is the way of cheep overseas labour and the cost for surlys being brought to us at such a great price, but it is a work horse not a thoroughbred and it should do its job. Also the 62cm LHT falls right between the XL and the jumbo C-dale frames and it fits me perfectly.

Another reason for choosing the LHT is that I can mount all my bolts reverse and put a nut on them. You can't do that with the monostay on the C-dale so if it strips or the bolt breaks you have a bigger problem in your hands. I also dig the spoke holder.

I will be adding the tandem cable for the RD and wrapping the bars shortly.
Eventually I plan to lace up some 36H phil woods to DT swiss TK 7.10 rims but for now I have some beat up old wheels on her.

The build is shimano 8 speed 11-32 with true 8 speed barcons (not those 8/9 grabage). Tektro brake levers with vintage dia-compe NGC cantilevers, though that may change as they are contacting on a slightly upward angle on the front, slightly worse on one side due to the uneven bosses. BTW the frame and fork colour don't even match!

Bars: WTB mountain road drop bar
Stem: bontrager select 17 degrees
POst: thomson elite
saddle: ideale 92 touring
Fenders: 52mm alloy from Velo orange, will have home made leather mudflaps
Tires: Will be 42mm continental travel contact in near future (32mm contacts for now) continental makes the best touring tires in the world hands down, schwalbe is a respectable second but not even close to contending for 1st place.
Cranks: 180mm sugino made ritchey logic compact 94/58BCD 46/36/24. With some old deore LX derailleurs but soon to be 1994 XT...
Pedals: good 'ol onza clipless..
Racks: rear is a generic tubular rated to 150lbs, mine is branded Radical explorack... these are cheep and very good.. front undecided...

Photos soon.

Lets see your LHTs!

Here's mine that I bought complete last fall. Just starting riding it the last few months. What a great handling bike.

Here's mine on tour last month:

ctyler,

What racks did you use on your LHT? I am spec'ing one out right now for myself and plan to get Arkel Panniers also.

I have the Surly Nice Rack on the rear and the Tubus Tara on the front. The Surly Nice Rack I had added to the bike when I bought it and I ordered the Tubus rack from thetouringstore.com.

Got any more pics of your trekking bars close up????

Mine and my wife's (note that she now has trekking "butterfly" bars but I haven't taken a picture of them yet)

Fresh off tour.

last spring, i believe.

no tours this year, broken hip on the mend. maybe later this summer...

I love this thread and love looking at other people's LHTs!

Can you post a pic of your wifes new bars?

Touring the Katy Trail across Missouri

Lone Peak panniers and a Brooks Champion Flyer that is just now getting much more comfortable.

Just took these today of her new bars. I did everything myself while improvising on the cable routing.

Poets, tell me about those brake levers that provide a mounting point for the bar-end shifters! Pretty cool!

Edit: Oh! I think I figured it out! Still pretty cool!

What brand of fenders are on the bike on the right, your bike I am guessing?

Just got my 52cm Utility Blue frame/fork in today. I am totally stoked and have been checking out parts and getting ready for my build.

Pictures soon.

Love the settup on your wifes bike, would like to change my bars to that. Can you give list of parts, cost to change to that from a complete built like mine? Any trouble you ran into, if any? Great pics you posted, I have a 58 blue lht, I got just a few weeks ago and not digging the drops.

Thanks for the compliments everyone, I actually saw something like it over at the "Surly LHT & Cross Check Owner's Forum" some time ago and it inspired me.

For those interested, the bar is from Nashbar that I got for under $20 (incl shipping), then I picked up the Paul Thumbies from Harris Cyclery for under $60, the Avid Speed Dial SL linear brake levers I picked up from my LBS for under $60, the noodles I got for $.50 each also from my LBS and the grips are Ritchie that I got for around $16 from my LBS as well. I little bit o' money but I wanted to do it right the first time.

What is original are the shifters, stem, and cables.

The tricky part were the noodles as they didn't want to stay in the Thumbies too well so I had to add the plastic ferrules that were on an old cable I had over the metal ones. This beefed up the end so that is would fit more snugly into the receiving end of the Thumbies.

My website: www.bluesteelroads.com with the same info mentioned here plus some other stuff I've been working on.

Another LHT picture I really like.

They are both Freddy Fenders

Cheers!
tdp

When I put the deposit down on my 52 people kept telling me "You'll LOVE it!!". As I was waiting for the bike, I didn't really *get it* at that point. The cultish enthusiasm that is. Now I do.

"You're gonna LOVE it!!"

Here's mine, brand new 52 cm. Just got it from the shop, installed the racks and snapped a pic. Still have to add water bottle cages and mirror, remove the stickers and adjust a few things. I changed the handlebar for a Nitto Noodle (46cm) and added Paul's Thumbies.

Thanks!

Spend a good 5 hours last night, and just starting tonight checking out what I want to build it up with. Considering Chris King Headseat and matching coloured hubs for something a little different. Probably gonna go with down tube shifters and a deore xt crankset, 22-32-44.

Still so many decisions and lots of time to change my mind!

question. you guys can actually ride with those saddle bags hanging from the front wheels?

Just curious... how do you secure a set of skis to your rear rack?