I was looking for some other information, and ran across this one...
No problem with the Sojourn and whacking the shifters on stuff.
One problem is that if you sweat a lot, that sweat tends to run down your arms, down the handlebars, winds up on/in the shifters, and corrodes things. That's a longer-term problem, not immediate.
The stock wheels on my Sojourn were not adequate. The rear wheel lasted about 4,000 miles, was replaced under warranty, and the replacement lasted about 500 miles. I had a friend build me up a rear wheel with a Chukker rim 36 hole, think I replaced that hub once, but have about 34,000 miles on the bike now. I think I'm on my 3rd set of barend shifters, if I remember right. This was the wheels from 3-4 years ago, and I have no idea how they compare to what is currently used.