hi folks,
Well towards the end of last fall I finally got the LHT..after reading alot of positive reviews, gotta say I love it. Have actually put on quite a few miles since then. Not as fast as some of my road bikes but it's just a joy to ride. here she is..............

Very nice, we all love our LHT'S

I've been looking at one of these myself. One of the drawbacks (at least as far as I see right now) are the bar end shifters. Did you have previous experience with these, or did you have to learn to use them? Right now I'm on a Specialized Allez with (I believe) STI shifters. And I like them. What do you think of the bar ends??

i was also really concerned with this but one ride on my father in laws touring bike cleared my mind. I'd suggest riding somebody elses bike and see how it feels to you. To me, it was perfectly natural.

Jeez, it's funny you ask this, I also have an Allez, but i gotta tell ya these shifters are great (athough I ride bike with down tube shifters) very chrisp shifting. You'll be used to them in no time..

Just bought LHT yesterday. Rode it home today,real happy with it. Im used to friction shifting as i switch all my bikes to it,so bar ends werent tough to use once i switched rear bar end over to friction.Front is already friction. Same color as OP. Nice to have a steel bike again. Cant decide what to use for fenders,Steel or plastic.Whats on your bike johnce?

It all depends on your style of riding. Myself, I can't help trying to go as fast as I can on any bike. This means shifting more than the average tourer and so the bar end shifters are a bit of a hindrance because your hand has to move too much with them. So, there will be a perfectly good LHT Utility Blue 'complete' for sale in the Spring and I'll build another LHT, 56 cm, all black with a few silver accents, 26" wheels, butterfly handlebars, XT combo shifters, Rapid Rise derailleur, blah, blah... this to say that building the bike is the only way to go for my style.

What about yours?

I ride mine with frictional downtube shifters - I actually have a set of nice barcons, but prefer the DT's. I've become so used to reaching for the downtube I continue to do it on other bikes automatically.

Yep, it's a good bike

It sounds like you're putting the miles in, which is great - it's the only reason for it! A lot of LHT owners seem to obsess over the "build" specifications more than actually riding the darn thing. Silly.

It's very rare to find any bad press on the LHT unless of course it's written by someone that hasn't ridden one for more than a test ride.

My brother was looking for a road bike and his only bike for the last 15 years has been an old 90s steel MTB. Brands and types of bikes mean nothing to him so he was going into this being pretty objective and well..uneducated. He visited quite a few shops in the Seattle area and tried a variety of higher end road specific bikes. Even though he wasn't wanting a full on tourer, a salesman steered him toward an LHT. After riding it he had a huge grin on his face and said "Man that's a fun bike to ride." His response cracked me up. Faster doesn't always mean funner. My Custom Co-Motion is getting a little jealous since my Cross Check is becoming my ride of choice.

I love my LHT too. To anyone who loves theirs but hasn't toured on it yet, all I can say is just wait until you load it up and take it on a long trip! That's when it really comes into its own.

As far as the bar-end shifters go: I also have an Allez with STI. I like the brifters so much they've become my favorite shifting method, and I've tried them all over the years. However, other methods are fine. My LHT has bar-ends, and it wouldn't be worth the trouble and expense to switch to STI - not yet anyway.

The biggest problem for me is getting used to the different shifters when I switch bikes. I keep reaching for the wrong place, forgetting which way is upshift and which is downshift, etc. It doesn't take long to settle in though. I ride the Allez 95% of the time around home. When I take the LHT touring in the spring it will probably be a couple of days before I get used to the bar-ends again. Then I'll be fine.

Like several others, I also have an Allez with STI and a touring bike with bar-ends. I have no problem at all switching back and forth. After a brief time to get use to them, the bar-ends are just as easy to use. In fact, the bar-ends have several advantages. They get the cables out of the way of your handlebar bag, you can shift them with any part of your hand (you can even wear mittens if you want, and can shift with food in your hand), you can shift as many gears as you want with one motion (useful when transitioning from steep downhill to steep uphill).

For me, it helped to get a low normal rear derailleur (the derailleur spring pulls the chain onto bigger cogs, rather than onto smaller cogs as with a regular derailleur). Not only does that make it faster to shift down (because the spring helps you onto the bigger cog), but it makes it obvious which way you want to push the bar-end shifters. Up for higher gear, down for lower gear. Simple.

I have a 2009 model LHT it had the bar end shifters on it but I change mine to down tube shifters and change out the front to 22,32,44 Shimano M442 set and had
to change the read derailleur on it as well. My LHT is the Olive green with olive green fenders.I have over 500 miles on it now and love it more each day.

My 42cm sage green LHT on tour near Silverton, CO in 2008:





My bar end shifters are on the top of the bars with Pauls Thumbies, also have 'cross brake levers:

Very nice sage green LHT, m_c!

I like that cable routing on the shifters. Do you have problems with cable drag with that set-up?

I've always set up bar ends that way, no problem. In the 70's before plastic lined housing and teflon coated cables the Suntour barcons were installed with bare ss wire housing(no covering) with greased zinc coated derailleur wire. I've installed bar cons with the regular stock derailleur housing routed as shown in the picture. Just make sure there's enough slack so that when the bars are turned it doesn't pull.

I've been entertaining the idea of a cross country ride with my CrossCheck, even though the LHT is a better bike for big loads, front loads and straight line riding the CC feels like a bike and not a bus..
I'm thinking of going light with one small set of panniers and a small front load.

It's my favorite fire road bike as well.

Gosh, it's been years since I posted here, but...

I finally got the money to pony up for one of these (2010 model)! It's a totally awesome bike, and I got mine in Truccacino Tan, just like the OP

After doing some shakedown rides and checking out the frame, I can really see why people called it a copy of the Rivendell Atlantis when it was first released. My 54cm LHT has insane tire clearance on the frame and fork. I think I can even throw down a set of fat mountain bike knobby tires and do some light trail riding on it. I'm not interested in doing much off-road mountain biking anyway, but it's a nice little option to have.

It's my one and only bike...and I don't have a problem with that, even though I really want to get more bikes for my stable. For one thing, I like the ride fo the Cross-Check more, but I am a practical man, so that's why I pulled the trigger on the LHT instead. Now I just gotta wait until I have all my equipment ready to tour with

What kind of levers do you have on there for use with the V-brakes?

Those look like the Diacompe V-287 brake levers, I think the first and for a long time only drop bar levers designed for use with v-brakes. I used to use them when I had drop bars and v-brakes (now use cantis), but if I were buying new I'd opt for the new Cane Creek version because they have a quick-release button to facilitate wheel removal.