My son just got a LHT a few weeks ago as his first real bike as an adult. He is a big guy and needed a big bike. We were worried because the LBS does not have Surlys in stock to test ride. According to the Surly website this is pretty normal for their company. The LBS did a fitting for my son, ordered the green bike for him and it came in one week later. So far son is very happy with his new bike. He is a new rider so doesn't really have anything with which to compare this bike. All of the research we did to find a bike for him including T.E. and Bikeforums.com kept coming back to the LHT. It is not a lightweight bike with all of the bells and whistles, but it is a well built, sturdy bike that should give years of great rides.