Originally Posted by Nyah

I think I'll be going with the Sutra. The Jamis A.E. has a more attractive appearance, and I was initially interested in making its road crank accept a low granny-gear. Now I see that I can't get the kind of benefit I want with a road crank, so I might as well go with 48/36/26. Salsa Marrakesh comes with brifters instead of bar-end shift, and neither it nor the Jamis AE are any easier for me to check out than the Sutra is. Someone posted on the REI bike site that full-hydrolic brakes were a bad idea for touring. Too bad, because REI is easy for me to deal with. Sutra comes with a chainwheel guard, something that I badly need, because I refuse to put on tights just to transport myself somewhere by bicycle.