Chris: "All-rounder" covers a lot of sins. I consider my Atlantis an all rounder because it's my daily ride, goes off road well enough for my purposes (like you, no single track gnarly MTBing) and I can toss 40 lbs of junk on it (and another 10 psi in the tires) and take off on tour. But there's a ton of bikes that'll do all that quite competently. The LHT is a known quantity that should be a competent all rounder.
As to the differences between a pre-sus MTB and the LHT, I can offer my experience with my Atlantis & '90 Fisher HK-II. The two most noticeable differences in handling come from the higher BB on the Fisher and the shorter chainstays. The Atlantis is more comfortable, stable, predicable, etc., BUT one needs to keep in mind it's easier to strike a pedal off-road. The higher BB on the MTB translates into more responsive handling with more ground clearance; desireable qualities off-road. OTH, the longer chainstays on the Atlantis mean far less fussing around when mounting panniers. I've used a rear rack with panniers on the Fisher, and the bags definitely get shoved as far back as possible for foot clearance (size 11 feet, not an unusual size). The Fisher is clearly a stiffer ride, as one would expect from a bike designed to bounce down Mt Tam, etc. With 2" Schwalbe Marathon Supreme tires, it still has gobs of clearance. There are a fair number of braze-ons & I've had front low riders on as well as a rear rack. Recently I discovered it has an odd-ball headset size (1-1/4") so replacement parts may be a future issue. It's TIG welded steel, with no tubing stickers, and cost around $500 when I bought it in 1990. It has decent parts but I'm certain there were a gazillion similar bikes produced at the time. As a counterpoint, one of my touring buds has a late 90s rigid fork Stumpjumper that he has used for touring all over the world. He's not much for off-roading but declares the bike "perfectly adequate" for daily riding and fully loaded touring. He tours frequently with a couple that both have LHTs & love'em dearly. If you don't plan on a lot of load carrying (but somehow that sneaks up on you when "it can be done") you might compare the Cross Check to the LHT. Of course, right now the coolest all rounder is the Sam Hillborne.....used ones come up for sale here from time to time. Food for thought. dougP On Friday, January 9, 2015 at 7:44:05 AM UTC-8, Chris Lampe 2 wrote: > > Anyone have any thoughts on positives or negatives associated with > choosing a 26" LHT versus a 90's MTB, like a Stumpjumper or Rockhopper? > > I'm familiar with the geometry differences between the two and I will be > using modern components (except for stem if I go vintage) so I'm interested > in things like ride quality, the impact of the tubing used in each, etc.... > > This will be an all-rounder bike that is primarily ridden on pavement with > the option to ride on packed dirt, gravel and even double track. I have no > interest in single-track or "mountain biking" as it currently exists. > > Riv content is that my bike project is directly inspired by the 56cm > Atlantis but I don't have the finances to go that route. I also know there > is a vast amount of experience with this type of bike here. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
