Raliegh Sojourn -- First Impression

I bought the 2008 Raliegh Soujourn from Cross Country Cycles on Valentine's Day, February 14th. Yes, there is a large bank of snow outside the store.

Here's what I can tell you:

It has disc brakes. These are different than traditional rim brakes, but they can still stop you, and they are very common on mountain bikes.

It has Bar End Shifters. The triple is friction, the 9-speed rear is indexed.

It weighs 34.8 pounds with a Kickstand and M520 pedals.

There are three bottle cage mounts.

There are two spare spokes. I would guess that these are for the rear wheel, but it's not clear.

The wheels themselves are used on Tandems, so although they are 32 spoke, the strength of the wheels should not be an issue.

It has Brooks Handlebar tape and a Brooks Aged B17 Saddle.

It tracked well during my 1/2 mile test ride in a small amount of snow, wet pavement and ice.

This is exactly the bike I wanted.

Bike Lust -- update

I rode the Cannondale and the Raliegh on the (momentarily) snow-free streets last night. Both bikes felt great. After a lot of soul searching, I decided that riding something a little different was going to be more fun, and frankly, the Raliegh just grabs my heart. It's not the logical choice, it's just more fun.

Today I'll go visit my new favorite LBS: Cross Country Cycles and buy the Raliegh they so patiently sold me.

At the Cannondale dealer, my wife, two grandkids (9 and 21 months) and a niece (6) sat in the car while I went in to the shop. At Cross Country Cycles, they came in and browsed all the kid bikes, and Laura helped my niece ride on a "big girl" bike on their large, carpet riding area, while I wiped drool off the Raleigh. I like this shop so much better than any other shops I've browsed.

Bike Lust

I am reconnected to cycling. Last year I put in 1400 miles -- not the 4000 I used to put in before, but respectable for a recreational cyclist. I used to commute every day to work, and I lived in Southern California where riding is year-round.

Now I'm in Michigan, a beautiful state, and more importantly I am married to someone who shares this love of cycling. She might not be quite as obsessed -- but she does enjoy it for herself, and wants to share it with me.

I am going to give up my Navarra Randonee for a new touring bike -- but which one? What do I really want? What do I really need?

I had no idea what was out there.

So I read touring blogs, forums, mailing lists and searched for brands I knew. Last time I used rec.bicycles.marketplace to get opinions; this time I never had to say a word.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/reviews/board/?o=3Tzut&board_id=3566&v=4

That place also has cycling journals from all over the world, and can be very distracting to someone who works from home.

This is what I knew:

1. I want a touring bike That is, I want a bike which is comfortable for several consecutive long days, and requires a minimum of effort to pedal. Which means that there has to be some aerodynamic positions for headwind, and comfortable upright positions for traffic and sight-seeing. Which means drop bars, but higher. It also means that I want 700C over 26"wheels because 26" wheels have higher rolling resistance; but I want to add rolling resistance for wider tires so that it's more comfortable on rough pavement, more stable, and less prone to flats.
2. I also want 700C tires because everyone I ride with uses this size, so we can share spare tubes if necessary.
3. It needs to take loaded touring. I'm 50 lbs heavier than my commuting weight, so there's me. It should be able to do a cross-country bike trip with a minimum of trouble. I want to throw on water bottles (3), racks, panniers, a bell and maybe even lights. Oh, and a computer of some sort. And fenders.
4. Reliable. I want a bike that I can get on and go. When I shift, it should shift and not think about it and make a decision later.
5. I want a Brooks saddle. I've always wanted a Brooks and I regret not buying one before.

I wasn't worried too much about aesthetics or color.

So with that list of requirements, I began to read.

Waterford

"America's Dream Bike". Waterford makes fantastic bikes, and maybe someday I'll buy one. But right now I don't know enough about what I want in a bike frame in terms of fit or geometry to make a custom frame worth it. And, for the same price, I could buy a great production bike AND a plow truck. OK, the plow truck would be used, but still. Not worth it -- yet.

Rivendell Atlantis

Last year on the PALM I saw someone on a beautiful bike, which turned out to be a Rivendell Atlantis. It's a beautiful bike and I love that company. Unfortunately, it's impossible to test ride them, and they run about $3500 complete. Is it worth it? Well... no. I ride a small/medium frame, and the wheels for this bike are 26" in my size. This probably helps with toe overlap, and rides beautifully, but I want 700C wheels.

Surly Long Haul Trucker

When anyone asks on the net "What touring bike should I buy", the answer always the LHT. It's a $1,000 version of the Atlantis; similar geometry, but the frame is made elsewhere, and not lugged. Since it's so well recommended, and since it's so reasonably priced, I considered it in spite of the wheel size. However, the LBS (Local Bike Shop) who sells it, and had one in stock, wasn't all that impressed with it, and just let me look at it, leaning against a wall with no handlebar tape. It looked OK, but I didn't want to buy a bike from this guy. And I still wanted 700C wheels. And I didn't want to be yet another guy on a Surly.

Trek 520

Boring. Yet... I would bet more long tours have been done on this bike than any other. It's a mature, stable platform; reliable, solid, and once was my "attainable dream bike". This year's model has everything I want -- including the gearing -- but there's only one Trek dealer near me. And they didn't want me to ride it because there was a puddle in the parking lot. My stepson has a Trek from this shop. They were not interested in selling a touring bike.

Cannondale T1/T2

I love Cannondales, but I have yet to ride one. (Maybe later today) My wife owns a Cannondale Hybrid; My father in law rides a T2000 from 2000. The dealer we would buy from is currently on Winter Break, or I'd have already ordered it. I tried riding one at a different bike shop -- the same one with the Surly -- but that bike wasn't rideable. The Cannondale Touring bike was my "UNattainable dream bike", just because it was so close to being the perfect touring bike out of the box, and so expensive. The T1 has good components and a fantastic color scheme. The T2 has better gearing and decent components with an OK color scheme. Again, I barely remember the color of my Randonee, so I don't know why I care what the color of my next bike is. No bike shop is going to cut me a break, and they all will take two weeks to get a medium. So do I buy it because I know it's what I've always wanted, or do I ride it first?

Raleigh Sojourn

What a beautiful bike! I don't remember being quite so impressed with a bike's looks before. I found a dealer I like who showed me one in my size. It already has fenders and a Brooks Saddle. The handlebars look great. It rides straight, solid no-nonsense, and it does have three bottle cage mounts and a heavy-duty rack. The wheels and brakes are not what I thought I wanted: disc brakes and only 32 spoke wheels. When he told me the price I almost plonked down my credit card. However, I promised myself I would wait until I ride a Cannondale. Is it love or lust? I don't know, but I like the dealer, and I love the looks of the bike.

T2 vs Sojourn

Both bikes have a lifetime frame warranty. The T2 has better components and better gearing and weighs about eight pounds less. The Sojourn is $500 cheaper, when the fenders and saddle are added to the T2, but much closer in price if I swapped out the front chainring and derailleur. There are differences, but I'm hard pressed to say that these differences matter that much to me. T2 is aluminum, Sojourn is Steel. T2 has canti brakes, Sojourn has disc. T2 has STI shifters, Sojourn has bar ends.

The Sojourn is really pretty. The Cannondale is... nice.

Stay tuned

Bikes I have loved

Throughout my life, riding a bike has made me happy the way few things can, and when something gives you so much pleasure, love ensues. These are the bicycles I have loved.

1. Schwinn Stingray, apple-krate red.

I grew up in a very hilly neighborhood in Oakland, CA. As much as I wanted a bike, my parents couldn’t allow it near our house – the roads were very steep and narrow. Grandma Edna lived an hour away in Woodland in a flat, quiet neighborhood with wide sidewalks. That’s where I got my first bike: a Schwinn with a sparkly red banana seat.
I loved that bike. I’d ride it around the block, on the sidewalk, for hours. A few years later Grandma thought I was too old for it, so she sold it. When I saw it was gone, I cried for a day and a night: apparently I wasn’t too old to throw a tantrum. She bought it back, and I didn’t get off the bike except to eat and sleep the rest of the weekend. Eventually I was too big for it, and I visited Grandma Edna only when necessary. This bike introduced me to the joys of cycling.

2. Peugeot 10 speed

When I was in 7th grade my parents lifted their ban on cycling in Oakland, and for my 14th birthday, gave me a 10 speed. I loved the idea of that bicycle as much as the bicycle itself: it represented freedom – the freedom to go anywhere I wanted. It was French, and evoked the mystique of Europeans who rode bikes around instead of cars. In the hills where we lived I learned to use all 10 speeds, and I learned to walk my bike sometimes too. As I rode the streets near my house, I realized there wasn’t much difference between the streets in Oakland and the streets in Berkeley, and that you could ride from here to there, if you wanted. Extrapolating this, I realized that you could go anywhere – even across the country. I was the first person to ever think of this (at 14 I thought it was more likely that someone stole my idea in advance than that someone else had made the same logical connections I did before I did). My dream of riding a TransAm (Cross-country bike trip) was born on this bike.
One day I decided to bike to school, so I could go directly to my paper route. My Junior High had a policy against riding bikes to school -- something about it being too dangerous -- so I arranged to park my bike at my scout master’s house, who lived about a block from the school. My ride to school that morning was uneventful.
After school I was cycling to my paper route; I had my mediocre report card in the back pocket of my jeans, and I expected my Father to express his disappointment for hours. I turned left far too early, following the lead of my friend, and I was struck by a speeding motorist. While this has caused minor problems with my right leg throughout my life, it more importantly killed my Peugeot. This blow crushed more than my femur: my parents were right all these years. Sure my parents were upset that their child was hurt, but they also had a lifetime of “I told you so”, which I’m sure cheered them up.
Six weeks later (after Thanksgiving and Christmas) I was out of the hospital on crutches. Six months later I was backpacking for a week in the Sierra Mountains. The Peugeot (or what was left of it) was stored for many years in a room next to the garage, a mute testament to my parent’s ability to predict disaster.

3. LL Bean Acadia Cruiser

After a business meeting in Boston I visited my sister, who was a docent on Nantucket. I borrowed her LL Bean Acadia Cruiser during the day when she was working, and enjoyed riding enough that I bought my own when I got home to Orange County, California. Mine was identical to hers, only men’s and green. I hadn’t owned a bike for 14 years.
I didn’t ride much at first, even though there was a large park with bike paths across the street from me. I quit smoking, lost weight, and was going to the gym every day. One day, on my way to work, I totaled my wife’s car. I couldn’t afford a new car, and I didn’t want to make life inconvenient for my wife, who was home with two kids, so I began riding this bike to work. It was 11 miles each way, with 22 stop lights and one stop sign. I added bar ends and a rack to it, and took it for a 75 mile ride, but eventually it wore out. This bike was a heavy, entry level bike, and my position on this bike was like a parachute. I was always working against wind and weight. Even so, it was effective transportation, easy to work on and extremely reliable. I loved this bike for introducing me to bike commuting.

4. Performance Parabola
In 1993 I bought the Performance Parabola. At the time, I decided that the perfect touring bike might be the Trek 520. This bike was about half the price of the Trek, and almost as good. This bike, more than any other, rekindled my dream of bicycle touring: I wanted to load this bike with camping equipment and take off across country. I rode this to work. I did a one hundred mile ride (called a “century”) every month, including one over Big Bear Mountain, and ultimately a double century. I toured wineries at the Great Western Bike Rally. One of the largest centuries in California is in Solvang, and I did that twice. I rode from my house to San Diego, returning by train. I learned to adjust the brakes, tweak the shifters, clean the chain, true the wheels, and replace the cogs. Eventually the bottom bracket wore out and when I went to replace it, I found that the frame was warped. After two short, intense years it was worn out.

5. Centurion Ironman

A friend of mine had an old racing bike he wasn’t using any more. I moved some of the components from my Parabola over to this bike, including my triple chain ring. This allowed me to climb hills much easier than it normally would. I enjoyed riding it, even if it didn’t have a way to attach a rack, and didn’t evoke the kind of touring dream that my Parabola did. I had aero bars, and started riding as fast as I could, which was still slower than most club cyclists. About a year after building this bike, I was struck by a car. The driver was young, uninsured and felt terrible; the police wrote up a report, and I was taken to the hospital. The bike was demolished, but I was OK.

6. REI Novara Randonee
With an accident settlement from my homeowner’s insurance, of all places, I was able to replace the Centurion with the 1994 REI Novara (in 1995 – it was last year’s model). Once again I could dream of an unsupported bike tour, although as my kids grew older and I grew broker, the dream faded, and I rode less. I was traveling more for work, flying somewhere to rent a car. During my divorce, I clung to this bike as I moved to Michigan; by 1999 I hadn’t ridden much, and perhaps didn’t expect to ride much again, but I still kept the bike, and the dream of a tour. In 2007, my bike was stolen – probably my step-daughter gave it to her boyfriend. Even though I hadn’t ridden it much in 10 years, I was deeply wounded – this wasn’t a bike, it was my dream. However, I live in a small town, and we knew where the boyfriend’s grandmother lived, so we drove over and found it on the lawn. It wouldn’t shift and the tires were flat (not a result of the theft, just years of neglect), so I brought it to my Local Bike Shop and had it repaired. He told me that it was antique, and that they don’t make components for 7 speed STI anymore. I’d have to think about an upgrade or a new bike if the shifters ever broke again. In 2008, I rode it several times a month, about 50 mile rides, from May through September, including a week on the Pedal Across Lower Michigan. I love this bike for never letting me down, for being there, for bringing me back.