gavsaway

Greetings all, my girlfriend is thinking about getting a Surly LHT for our trip through the himalayas in June. My concern is, is it up to it? She is only 50kg , 160 cm tall so wont be a strain on any bike . I am more worried about the frame and standard rims being able to handle nepali and indian Roads. Any thoughts?

Bacciagalupe

From what I hear of road conditions in that region, you really need more of an MTB-style bike than a road bike. You'll almost certainly want / need suspension as well. I'd look into MTB's, perhaps with a Rohloff if you can afford it.

I'd also contact some touring companies that operate in that region, and see what they recommend.

roadfix

At least her LHT will be 26" wheeled which is a good start...

X-LinkedRider

The LHT is basically the best and one of the strongest touring frames you can get. I couldn't see why that would be an issue.

Cyclebum

The LHT will reliably take you anywhere you want to go, except off road technical. I'd change the stock gearing to MTB gearing for this trek, and equip it with Schwalbe Marathon Supreme tires.

Aloyzius

I can do just anout anything on my LHT I can do on my hardtail mountain bike, except sharp hairpin turns. It likes to go straight. On rotten, rocky, dirt roads, it does great, and surprisingly more comfy than my Gary Fisher.

nancy sv

I haven't biked those roads for 20 years, but the LHT would have handled the roads that were there then nicely. I can't see that they've changed all that much - unless they are slightly better now. The LHT will be fine.

roadfix

True, I've also been favoring my 26" wheeled LHT over my mountain bike on most fireroads and single tracks. But since it has a low bottom bracket I sometimes pedal strike when going over small obstacles and get unclipped.

guadzilla

Where in the Himalayas? Roads vary greatly. In the eastern Himalayas and Uttaranchal, the LHT will do fine (I am getting one for those areas). About the only place where she might want to consider a hardtail - or even a full-sus - is Manali-Leh. That road is a bi$ch even with a nice 4WD... the LHT might be able to handle it but her joints would be better off with some suspension.

Vandit

guadzilla

Duplicate post.

mechanicalron

My LHT has been a great bike for trails, fire roads and I just love small foot paths but I had to add cross top brake levers for the trails. I am 6' 2" and just under 200 lbs and I load this thing up with no problems! I did build up the frame set so this is not a stock LHT but all I hear is good news from Surly LHT owners.
I think she will love it, ron.

jorbenweb

Here's a link to a Himalayan trip log. It has a ton of awesome pictures. The author mentions that his bike was the only one in his group without front suspension and he got pretty beat up. His word choice was "bone-jarring." He rode a Rivendell Atlantis.

https://www.telemarktalk.com/phpBB/vi...er=asc&start=0

Everyone should click that link - it's about the best trip report I've ever read.

thehum

thanks for sharing that. my favorite part was unicycle steve heh:

xiaodidi

SAGged ride...

WTF was he whinning about again ?

Bacciagalupe

Doesn't look to me like he was "whining," just pointing out that some of the roads were harsh without suspension.

And what's wrong with a supported ride? Especially in a high-altitude, remote, non-industrialized region with brutal roads. It's not like there's a 7-11 and a fully equipped bike shop every 50 miles.

Fueled by Boh

i'm going to be in and around uttarakhand (rhaniket and rishikesh) from late march till mid june, and then probably try to go to nepal. where are you riding? what route? I was thinking about bringing my bike (lht) over, but ultimately decided against it in lieu of backpacking and taking advantage of affordable busses, etc.

also -- looks like you and I will be there in monsoon season!

Fueled by Boh

note that the guy in thehum's link travelled in the fall, and on the tibetan plateau, which is in the rain shadow of the himalayas

nun

With some big tyres and the right gearing the LHT will do just fine. FYI here's a trip into Tibet done by
the Crane Bros where they use bikes designed for Paris Roubaix

https://web.archive.org/web/200412110...tup.net/crane/

Fueled by Boh

nun- your link brings back "data retrieval failure." Could you try posting the link again?

nun

The link is ok Looks like the site is down

DuckFat

LHT's have been around the world including the Himilayas.

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/longwayhome

Personally, I would take a bike with a front suspension that can be locked out for road riding.

Jonathan2017

Think like this if you by luck find a dam place that the Surly LHT cannot take you, don't even bother going because you will need a military tank to get there, the LHT is simply the most robust and strong touring bicycle available anywhere in the world.
Good luck on your trip and by the way my LHT when fitted with Schwalbe Marathon Mondial are as good as any hardtail mountain bikes for single tracks and trails.

mstateglfr 

The OP from 8 years ago thanks you.

Squeezebox

The guy unicycle touring is still interesting though!

AdvXtrm

Are these just a bunch of alts trolling up old threads around here lately? Seems like too many to be mere coincidence...