Originally Posted by
chris1548
This weekend REI will have all their Novarras at 15% off. That makes the Safari $765 and the Randonnee $1,020. Go try them. REI should be able to do a fit on you too -- at least they can do it here in Salt Lake. More than a few people have ridden cross country on the Safari.
The sale makes the price difference between the Windsor and the Safari quite small given the value of the setup from REI (and given that the gearing on the Safari is low and doesn't need additional tweaks, while the Windsor would need a new cassette or different chainrings to lower the gearing, which of course is additional cost). Of course the Safari has to fit the OP! But at least he can try it out.