BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I have a cross check, which I like.

My lowest gear is 22 front and 30 back -I'm guessing that qualifies as a "granny gear"

There are enough hills here and I ride long enough distances when I am far enough out of shape that low gears are important to me.

As well as "Granny," now close is gear 2? A big jump between them can make things like the climb up 16th street hellish.

I used to have a cog that made a super granny by having a leap to the biggest cog - it really didn't matter whether I shifted from 1st to 2nd or if I changed the front gear. Hated always wanting to be in-between.

I think I use gear 2 (22F, 26B) more than any other gear on my bike.

Mick

LHT: Fork has mounting points for a front rack. If you want such a thing.

CC: If you have aspirations of someday using an internally geared hub, or going single-speed or something, the CC dropouts will be much friendlier for such endeavors.

If it were me, I'd buy a CC with a Trucker fork.

Like dan said, the cross check is the most versatile bike for sure. I have ran mine as a cyclocross race bike, a cruiser with moustache bars and fenders, a flat bar mountain bike...

But when I did the great divide mountain bike route, I literally used U bolts to put a Jandd extreme rack right onto the CC and ran front panniers for 2200 miles of gnarly dirt roads and trails, no problem.

The CC is totally an all around bike, and I dont know how tall you are but the LHT is 26" in smaller sizes which can be weird if you are looking for sueper (like 23 or 25mm) tires.

I love my LHT!!!! It's just so damn smooth.

It can haul just about anything too...

Thanks for the info! It sounds like you can't go wrong with either of them. I think the LHT might be the ticket for this bike, because it's gonna be for times when my Raleigh is to whimpy for the task, so the ability to get rigged up for touring is good.

I have to admit that I hate the ugly beige color of the LHT, which is only surpassed by the brown CC...I guess it's a theft deterrent measure.

I have a 2006 Trek 520 which is very similar overall to the LHT, I use it for everything (commuting, day rides, loaded touring) and really couldn't be happier with the style of bike. You can always throw albatross style bars on it and have an awesome city bike, too.

I have a Long Haul Trucker frame and love it. Loaded up it's really stable.

I have been wanting to convert it to a more upright bike with albatross style bars and a front basket but it's still my only road bike with gears so I am keeping the drop bars on it for now.

I love my CC although I sometimes wonder about the LHT - grass is always greener and whatnot.

I put a triple crank (30/39/50) on my CC but I'd still like some lower gears (well - I always say that but I've yet to swap the ring out).

If I ever actually ride the GAP I may do what reddan said and buy an LHT fork.

PS: apparently 2010 LHT colors are blue or black?

I just picked up my CC from Ambridge Bikes on Friday. They were very helpful and made buying a bike from them a pleasant experience. I went with the CC because (a) I have an internally geared hub that I might throw on there someday (b) it came with a slimmer set of components than the LHT, I held the LHT complete and the CC complete, one in each hand at Ambridge, and definitely noticed a difference (c) if I ever move somewhere flat, I'm going to make it a single speed.

The only thing I changed from the stock bike was to add extra brake pulls on the horizontals, which the guys at Ambridge suggested (and I very much like).

In the near future I may end up getting a shorter stem, since I feel a little stretched out on the 60cm, but that may just be because I'm moving from a mountain bike to a road frame. The gear range on the CC complete is also not very PGH-friendly. I am pretty out of shape having not ridden a bike in six months, but I still made it up every hill I tried this weekend. The rack and panniers I ordered haven't arrived yet though. I don't know if I'll make it up the hill to my house with a load of groceries in the back.

The gear range on the CC complete is also not very PGH-friendly

Tell me it's not 52/42 12-23.

According to Surly, the latest generation of CCs have 48/36 up front, with 12-25 in the back. That seems to be cyclocross-y gearing more than anything else. A slight wider range on the cassette might be nice for longer, hillier rides.

When I read the thread title, the first thing I thought of was this post

Ha! Joe, I was wondering when somebody was going to grab that one, I was holding back, holding back.

I love my CC although I sometimes wonder about the LHT - grass is always greener and whatnot.

It is indeed always greener. I am always thinking that I should have bought a crosscheck!

I can see a new reality show - "Bike Swap"!

PS: i *just* saw your message from 2 months ago on the twitter about small dogs and big snowstorms... lol.

the latest generation of CCs have 48/36 up front, with 12-25 in the back

I guess Bob at Iron city s3wapped stuff out when I bought mine.

It was 44/??/22 up front (not sure about the middle ring) and I currently have 11-30 in the back.

Seems to me that 44/36/28 and 11-32 is the standard setup for mountain or utility bikes these days. To me, in Pittsburgh that low isn't low enough. No sense in either having by legs hurt nor in walking up hills when I could ride.