After 6 years of pretty steady commuting on my 2008 Aurora (maybe 30k km), I’m pretty happy with it still. No major tours. Here are some misc remarks:
1. The stock rims are quite soft & the rear one wore down so much from braking that I needed to replace it a few months ago. The front rim is on its last few km as well, for the same reason. I think it lasted longer because it’s less exposed to road grime.
2. The frame has cracked where the seat tube meets the seat stays. It’s safe, but I have had the LBS where I bought the bike take a foto of the crack. They sent the foto to Jamis, who agreed within a week to send a replacement frame. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, about 8 weeks later, the new frame has not arrived.
3. I suspect the frame is rusting internally (I do ride in the rain perhaps twice a month). About 6 months after my purchase, I was turning the bike upside down, & some bright red water shot out of 1 of the weep holes. The LBS was kind enough to shoot some frame saver thru there, but still I’m glad a new frame is (supposed to be) on its way.
4. The Tiagra brifters have never worked exactly right. I cannot usually shift directly to the next smaller cassette cog. Usually I need to shift 2 cogs smaller, & then back to the cog I wanted, despite careful lubrication of the entire shifting system. I guess I’d feel comfortable taking the brifters on a tour, though, because they’ve not degraded despite fairly heavy use.
5. I broke about 5 spokes during the bike’s first year, despite my fairly low weight of about 68kg, & light loads evenly distributed between front & rear. However, I think I’ve not broken any for the past 2 years now.
6. On the plus side, I find the seat & h-bars very comfortable. The FSA crank looks like a budget crank, but it’s lasted well. No problems with the headset, BB, hubs or freehub.
7. The double eyelets on the forks are very handy. Unlike on my Cross-Check, I can easily attach both fenders & a front rack to my Aurora, & adjust them with very little hassle.
Update: On 24Jul2014, the new frame arrived. It's a 2014 or 2015 model, nicer than then 2008 model I had, complete with a new fork, installed threadless headset, plenty of fork spacers & even 3 spare spokes in the spoke holder on the port side chainstay. I've installed all the old parts on the new frame; everything is a perfect fit just like they said it would be. Great service, Jamis!
Last edited by hartlean; 07-26-14 at 07:56 PM.
Reason: frame arrived