Originally Posted by
balindamood
FWIW, I have (or in some cases, have had) an '84/85 Lotus Odyssey, an '84 Expedition, an '85 Portage, and a '89 Miyata 1000LT. I prefer the Lotus.
The Miyata is nice as it has indexed shifting, but seems rather stiff, even loaded to the hilt.
The Expedition is a bit sluggist unladen, but does not handle as well loaded. I also like the intergal dyno wiring.
The Portage was a great gravel grinder, but sucked loaded.
The Lotus seems to handle abot the same unload as fully loaded...not sure how they did that. My only complaints are the use of horizontal vs vertical dropouts, only two bottle mounts vs three, and the stock rear wheel is a 36-hole instead of 40/48.
Here is a picture of it before we left for a few days in the wilderness last year:
Until my Koga Miyata, the Lotus Odyssey was the best tourer I'd been on, and I agree with your description. The Miyata 1000s and Expeditions rode like trucks, the RBT was nice, but didn't ride as well with weight...the Odyssey rode well with bags AND unloaded. I LOVED that bike.