I bought a 58cm LHT last Nov, and loved it all except for the toe overlap. This was bad enough that I decided to get a larger frame, in order to increase the distance between toe and wheel. I rode the LHT all winter, and have now been riding my new 62cm disc trucker for about two weeks. No long trips, and none with a heavy load.
The larger frame does help with toe overlap. Not hugely: I still have to be careful. But it is now a minor annoyance rather than a serious problem.
So far, the I like the LX rear derailleur just fine. I was worried about this initially, but it seems to shift at least as smoothly as the XT on my old bike. The disc trucker has a 34-tooth rear cog, which the LX (according to its specs) is too small to handle. I asked Surly about this before I ordered and was told (a) that Shimano says it will handle the 34, and (b) that several people at Surly rode the LX for months with a 34 before deciding to use it. My own subjective impression is that the shifts are slightly crisper with the LX than with the XT. I have no difficulty shifting onto the 34.
The disc brakes have taken some getting used to. My initial impression was that they stopped about as fast as my old cantis but made a horrible squeal while doing so. The web is full of conflicting advice about curing disc brake squeal, but today I found something really useful. One posting claimed that the squeal happens because the brake pads are not sitting square in their slots. His recommendation was to jerk the bike forward and backward a few times while pressing lightly on the brakes. This, he claimed, would properly seat the pads. It worked like magic. My squeal is now gone. And now that I can brake without wincing at the sound, I can verify that yes, it's true, mechanical disc brakes really do stop faster than cantis.
