ddez

I often see comments like LHT is a great bike but "slow". Its the first bike ive owned and ive been around awhile, where if i want i can pass MTBs and hybrids with not that much effort. If i dont want them passing its no problem to stay ahead. All my past bikes have been variations of MTB or hybrids(except in old days with 10-12 speeds),where i couldn't catch anyone. I find it far faster than i need to go. What am i missing here?
So my question is if its "slow" what are they using for comparisons, other tourers or roadie type bikes?/or both?

z90

If you are used to a road bike, it feels slow. I think it is more perception than reality, judging from my commute times on my LHT versus my Felt Z90. I think more of it has to do with the fat tires and plush ride than the weight. I always take the felt on group rides, but I think the biggest advantage there is the close gearing relative to the LHT, more than the weight. That said, I'm no racer, and marginal speed differences just aren't that important to me. I love my LHT for utility and commuting, and am looking forward to touring on it.

KDC1956

Its a touring bike.You like it or you don't.

dwilbur3

Somebody has to say it: "It's not the bike...".

Chop61

Not slow as much as "Slower." Compared to my 16lb twitchy, super responsive, I-want-to-go-fast-like-the-wind Pinarello, of course it's slower. But I can't carry 40lbs of gear for days and days on the Pin either.

Hamish200sx

The only time it's slower is when speeding up or on hills. It takes no more effort to ride a LHT at 15mph than it does to ride a Cervelo RS at 15mph.

jackb

How can a bike be slow? It can only be heavy or have too much flex or have big/heavy wheels or tires. Who wants to go fast on a touring bike, anyway?

Barrettscv 

Compared to what?

I have several bikes and my Ti road bike is more efficient than my Touring bike or Cyclocross bike at higher speeds. My steel bikes flex more that the Ti bike and some loss of efficiency at higher efforts is the case.

At touring speeds, the touring bike is just as fast.

Michael

Bikearound

I don't think the question is specific to the LHT being slow. I think it's a question of heavy being slow. The LHT is a heavy bike when dressed for touring. I have a custom LHT with "boutique" parts and when weighed, it was 28 lbs without racks, fenders, lights, computer, bottle cages etc. I also ride a Tarmac that with everything, spare tubes, tool, GPS, bottle cages etc. weighs in at 16 lbs. Me being the same motor for both, I can ride my Tarmac to 32 mph (measured by GPS) on flat ground. On my LHT I have never been able to get above 25 over the same ground. I understand that both bikes are geared differently also which is also part of the answer to why a LHT is slow or slower than a road bike because the gearing is more for climbing or pulling a load. It all depends on what bike you're making the observation from.

njkayaker

You can't manage the extra 8 watts?

https://www.noping.net/english/

702 watts to run a 30lb bike at 32mph compared to 696 watts for a 16lb bike.

There might be other things going on (eg, tire resistance) that make it somewhat harder to get the heavier bike up to speed but weight on the flats isn't a big deal.

DVC45

Fixed it.

sstorkel

My power meter would tend to disagree with this statement...

ddez

Ok so maybe when i read someone saying LHT is a slow bike,what they are saying is its for riding slow. Cause when i get on it its heck of a lot faster than my MTB. I was surprised when i got it,i wasnt expecting it to go as good cause of the comments id read before purchasing it about it being slow.

X-LinkedRider

Slow has to do with the rider.

But the LHT is one of the best touring bikes for a multitude of reasons. One of the reasons is it's strength and geometry. This might account for extra weight and a slightly more upright feel resulting in "slowness" feeling?

Personally, I think if you try to haul 75lbs worth of crap up a mountain on a carbon road bike, you are just plain silly.

ddez

Absolutely++1.

z90

You have a power meter on your Long Haul Trucker?

Bikearound

Haven't been able to so far but thanks for asking. It could also have to do with the fact that my LHT is not very aero and is way more upright than my road bike and it could be tires or gearing who knows.

bwgride

I'm slow on all my bikes. In fact, I tend to ride about the same speed on pavement whether on my road bike, mountain bike, or my LHT -- 12 to 14 mph (normally I average in the 12 to 13 range). When touring on my LHT (or any other bike), I average about 10 to 11 mph.

John Nelson

If you judge your speed by who you pass and who passes you, then I think you're paying attention to the wrong thing. If you ride alone, it doesn't really matter. If you ride with friends, then it might matter if they are always waiting for you or vice versa.

niknak

Popular belief is that aerodynamics has the most affect on speed. A normal LHT will be set up with bars around saddle height whereas a road bike might have the bars several inches below saddle height. Racers "sit up" for a reason when they've given up on a breakaway.

sstorkel

I own a Cervelo RS, a touring bike based on Nashbar's Double-Butted Aluminum Touring frame, and a 700c wheel with a PowerTap Pro+ hub...

z90

So, not exactly, but maybe close enough. Can you give us some real data?
Just for kicks, ride a mile at 15 mph hour with each bike on a flat stretch. Try it in aero and non-aero positions. Three trials for each treatment, so we can get a standard deviation.

nun

Geometry and wheelbase have a lot to do with how fast a bike feels. Something with 74 deg angles will feel more responsive and could be 10lbs lighter than the LHT. I've measured myself riding the same course on a Rambouillet sport tourer and a Neo Primato road bike and I average 1 mph faster on the Neo Primato

LeeG

aero and tires AND weight is it. Weight does make a difference because it takes energy in the anaerobic territory to accelerate up to peak speeds. If one is spending more time accelerating while going anaerobic there's less time to maintain that very high speed before blowing up.

LeeG

IF you have the horsepower and have a lean body mass training/racing with others of similar fitness it'll be obvious if one person straps on an extra 10lbs and lets ten lbs out of the tires and sits up on the tops instead of stretched out on the drops or hoods. You will go slower with all those changes and the folks you rode with would leave you in the dust. Slower means going 20mph instead of 21mph, 25mph instead of 28mph. A 1mph speed difference will drop you out of a paceline in seconds, once you're pushing your own air you'll be riding a lot slower than your buddies. That's why racers don't strap on 10lb lead weights to their bikes.
But if you aren't riding with other riders in a 20mph paceline occasionally sprinting to 30mph it's all moot. I'm 50lbs heavier and significantly weaker than when I could do that stuff so it's an irrelevant issue. I can notice the the difference but it's not a practical difference for 95% of my riding.