yeah, I had to look aprebic up. uncapitalized, I thought it was an unfamiliar descriptive word.

FWIW, if you're going the Kona route, inspect the paint job thoroughly before you leave the LBS with it. The Dew Deluxe I purchased quickly evidenced some quality control defects including a paint bubble, sub-surface micro-bubbling on the rear chain-stay, a big old hair, and a buffed out touch-up nick on the top tube. Kona was slow in getting a replacement frame out, so I made a deal with my LBS to pay the difference and get them to send out an upgraded full Dr. Dew as a replacement. I was thinking it might get to the shop faster through the retail channel than the warranty channel. =/

Thank you all for weighing in and helping me. Had not intended for it to get so intense. For the record I live in New Hampshire and will likely be riding in Vermont (maybe a little NH too) and have no plans for Croatia any time soon. I will soon go further but not till I have my bike just how I like it and till I know some more about repairs. When I have a bike I also plan to ride more and post much less as was also suggested. I have decided (99% sure) that I'll be getting an LHT and the reason for this is largely that I think it suits my needs best but also because I did not realize that I have no Kona dealers in my area (my bikes are my only transportation so I can't go too far with a broken bike) so it would not make too much sense to rent a car to drive 60 miles to buy and maintain a bike.
While I'm here, can anyone recommend any front and rear racks that have worked well on your LHT and bags to fit them (I'd like to stick with Ortlieb). Less $ is better but I am willing to pay more (Ortlieb for example) if quality is at risk. I'll start another thread with this specific question but you can chime in now if you'd like. Thanks folks.

I have both the Sutra and the LHT. The LHT is by far the better designed bike. My Sutra has been turned into a winter beater.

As for racks, nothing beats Tubus. I prefer the Logo.

I really love my disc brakes for the stopping power and thus + of security I get. I recommended them to quite a few people for their touring bikes and they are all happy. The ones who had the most arguments against discs are now telling they would never go on tour again with anything else. BTW neither would I.

As for racks my recommendation is Tubus Cargo for rear, Tubus Duo or Tara for front. My first Cargo rear rack has been on different bikes for over ten years and carried stuff on and off road without any problems. It is still in use on my every day bike, and the new tourer got a new Cargo :D Same for the Tara low rider, never let me down. The new bike has a Duo when used with the rigid fork and a Swing when touring with a suspension fork.

>I want to get the LHT so badly

This is a far more important reason than measuring millimetres of geometry, or worrying about how you're going to repair a braze-on in a third world country.

Steve