Quote Originally Posted by nuliajuk View Post
You should not be expecting to put your foot on the ground from the saddle. This can be done by cruiser riders on things like Electras with the extreme (almost semi-recumbent) seat tube angle. On a normal road bike, you'd have to have the saddle far too low to be able to do that......

If you're feeling stretched out on the WSD bikes you've been trying, a Surly (unless it's very tiny) will probably feel even more so. I looked at their frame geometry charts a couple years ago when searching for a touring bike and found that the top tubes were quite long compared with other makes in the same size.
Yes, for most bikes you can't expect to be able to touch more than your toes to the ground if your seat-post is adjusted to the right height to give you proper leg extension. If your legs aren't extended properly in the stroke then you will eventually develop injuries related to this. That being said, what many do is to start with the seat-post a little lower than optimum and then gradually raise the saddle height to the correct height (having marked it before lowering it a bit). This helps provide more confidence while building skills.

As far as the LHT is concerned. It is a touring bike with a different geometry than a "regular" road bike (however you define that), it is meant to stretch you out a bit more for those all-day long loaded touring rides. While a touring bike is a type of road bike, it isn't an apples to apples comparison. My first bike was a Trek (7.6FX) I bought it before I realized that Trek doesn't make one small enough - well, really, proportioned properly for me. I've fit issues beyond my size and nothing in the FX line comes close to fitting me.

The Trek experience led me to purchase a LHT as my next bike and I found that the LHT fit me FAR better even though it had a longer TT. So far I've not ridden a WSD that actually fit me, and I am short. The LHT was an awesome bike, and while I did convert the bike from drops to flat bars, it wasn't due to reach problems.

This is a long-winded way to tell you not to write off the LHT before finding one to test ride if possible. The LHT is all-day long comfortable, but it is heavy as it is meant for fully-loaded touring and the smaller sizes could be said to be over-built and perhaps a little too stable. I loved mine, and while I did eventually sell mine for reasons unrelated to the bike, I will always have fond memories of it.