My boss told me that I should check out Crater Lake on the way up while I was moving here. Like a dumbass, I ignored him. I think we ended up staying in a biker town a couple of hours east of Portland that night.
[quote=daedelus]I really want to start bike touring this summer, with the goal of doing something like a cross-country trip next summer.
I’m thinking about building a touring bike right now, and the Long Haul Trucker seems to be the base standard of affordable quality. Can anyone suggest any other good loaded touring frames (that are sold as framesets)?
Also, is it overly redundant to have both a LHT and a Crosscheck?[/quote]
Ditch the cross check and get a long haul trucker.
The trucker will do everything but race cross well that the check does, and the check doesnt even race cross very well.
[quote=frankstoneline][quote=daedelus]I really want to start bike touring this summer, with the goal of doing something like a cross-country trip next summer.
I’m thinking about building a touring bike right now, and the Long Haul Trucker seems to be the base standard of affordable quality. Can anyone suggest any other good loaded touring frames (that are sold as framesets)?
Also, is it overly redundant to have both a LHT and a Crosscheck?[/quote]
Ditch the cross check and get a long haul trucker.
The trucker will do everything but race cross well that the check does, and the check doesnt even race cross very well.[/quote]
I just order a lht for the lady for her birthday! Should be here this week. Found the last one in the right size for a decent deal: $1015 w pedals delivered to our door.
Mostly, I am looking to greatly reduce our car use, and further down the line, once she gets more comfortable and confident, take some short trips.
The local shop here (who have pissed me off for the lat time, but there’s another thread for that) kept trying to sell me on a cross bike, but I chose the lht for the same reasons you stated.
We are both super stoked for the new ride to get here.
Will post pics of our ever-expanding stable soon after.
[quote=vegwerm][quote=frankstoneline][quote=daedelus]I really want to start bike touring this summer, with the goal of doing something like a cross-country trip next summer.
I’m thinking about building a touring bike right now, and the Long Haul Trucker seems to be the base standard of affordable quality. Can anyone suggest any other good loaded touring frames (that are sold as framesets)?
Also, is it overly redundant to have both a LHT and a Crosscheck?[/quote]
Ditch the cross check and get a long haul trucker.
The trucker will do everything but race cross well that the check does, and the check doesnt even race cross very well.[/quote]
I just order a lht for the lady for her birthday! Should be here this week. Found the last one in the right size for a decent deal: $1015 w pedals delivered to our door.
Mostly, I am looking to greatly reduce our car use, and further down the line, once she gets more comfortable and confident, take some short trips.
The local shop here (who have pissed me off for the lat time, but there’s another thread for that) kept trying to sell me on a cross bike, but I chose the lht for the same reasons you stated.
We are both super stoked for the new ride to get here.
Will post pics of our ever-expanding stable soon after.[/quote]
Is the local shop a specialized shop by chance? and are they trying to sell you a tri cross?
if so, fuck em.
What’s wrong with the tricross?
I think it’s a sharp lookin’ bike.
not that I know of.
Tour of Nevada City, I posted a little rant in the LBS thread about them
the LHT is DEFINITELY clunkier than the cross check, and you can’t run it fixed. the tubing is just fatter and the geo even slacker.
Rusty your friend should get the BD fuji, it’s a good purchase.
[quote=frankstoneline][quote=daedelus]I really want to start bike touring this summer, with the goal of doing something like a cross-country trip next summer.
I’m thinking about building a touring bike right now, and the Long Haul Trucker seems to be the base standard of affordable quality. Can anyone suggest any other good loaded touring frames (that are sold as framesets)?
Also, is it overly redundant to have both a LHT and a Crosscheck?[/quote]
Ditch the cross check and get a long haul trucker.
The trucker will do everything but race cross well that the check does, and the check doesnt even race cross very well.[/quote]
I’m basically using the crosscheck as a utility/road bike, but since I did some damage to the frame, I’m considering moving the road group (ultegra) to a dedicated road frame. Then I would build a touring bike to fit the utility biking role.
The only thing that I don’t particularly like about the LHT is that it uses 26" wheels in my size, but that’s just an aesthetic thing, really.
I’m going to look for a used touring frame for a while.
edit: thanks for the input, everyone.
with the LHT in your size you can run big apples. I really want big apples on my LHT, but a lot of people will talk shit on 'em.
[quote=Rusty Piton]What’s wrong with the tricross?
I think it’s a sharp lookin’ bike.[/quote]
The elite is damn near gorgeous, and other than the fork they are pretty ok looking rigs, I just have a serious distaste for specialized.
and specialized doesnt really make a traditional touring bike, so i figured if his shop was trying to push a cross bike instead it was a specialized shop.
If anyone’s looking for a touring frame they might want to consider the new Bruce Gordon BLT made in Taiwan. Bruce’s reputation as a custom frame builder is right up with the very best of them.
[quote=“Bruce Gordon”]Yes - the New BLT frame I’m having made in Taiwan is on it’s way. Pictures of the final sample should be up in about 10 days. If you want to hear when it is up on the “interweb” - sign up for my Newsletter on my Web Page. I promise you will get NO SPAM.
http://bgcycles.com/signup.html
The price will be $975 for a Frame, Fork, Headset, Stem, & Front and Rear Racks (Racks made in our shop in California).
Any questions - Feel free to give me a call.
[/quote]
I understand it’s coming with a bit more than your average frame set, but it’s a wee bit pricey.
I would consider the BLT as a frameset, but I’m not sure it’s worth the extra cost compared to a LHT. Seems like I could just get the Surly and some nice racks and it would be about the same.
Also, the fact that he doesn’t appear to have the frame geometry on the site is kind of annoying.
you might want to check out the kogswell as well.
not me.
I want a Ute.
You do have to count in that the racks cost $180 and $160 if you buy them separately. That takes the cost closer to $600, which is better. It is still a little much for 4130, but their California built ones sold for $1400 f+f.
[quote=daedelus]I would consider the BLT as a frameset, but I’m not sure it’s worth the extra cost compared to a LHT. Seems like I could just get the Surly and some nice racks and it would be about the same.
[/quote]
The LHT would also leave you with some money in your pocket, BG wouldn’t. The BG is nice, but I think overpriced for a glorified LHT. I.E Taiwanese made 4130 frame/fork. It comes with racks, but the Surly racks are also 4130 and cheaper. Also, as much as I love threaded headsets, threadless is far superior
With all of that said I own a LHT with Surly Nice Racks front and rear. I have only owned it since the beginning of the year, but I love this bike. My first commute in to work on it I felt like I was riding a Cadillac. The long wheelbase and big tires just rolled over and soaked up the great Michigan roads on my commute.
One other thing on the CC vs. LHT. Look at the geometry numbers. With the exception of the BB Drop and chainstay length they are very close to identical for the same size frame in both.
i have a cross check, and my mate has a LHT.
Both are excellent bikes.
The LHT has more braze-ons, 3 water bottle mounts, spoke holders etc. Xcheck doesn’t have the front tabby things for a front rack… i think the LHT does… so that could be the only big downside to the Xcheck if you want to run front and rear racks. Though there are plenty of racks on the market that don’t require this braze-on.
Xcheck has horizontal drop-outs so you can run it as a ss/fg when its not in touring mode.
I think the LHT is also designed for 26" wheels (for some sizes) due to the greater availability of 26" tires in remote areas in the world.
Umm… apart from that, geometry’s are pretty similar.
Xcheck has a very short head tube which either leads to putting on a lot of spacers or the anti-poon upwards facing stem… (looks retarted either way… but i don’t mind it)
LHT also has a slightly longer wheelbase which is highly desirable when touring, though the Xcheck’s wheelbase is perfectly fine for touring as well.
Shitty pic of me and my mate’s:
^^
lol, just realised my mate was running 700c wheels instead of 26" and couldn’t get a calliper that would a rear brake… so we just went with a front brake lol.