Originally Posted by
Polaris OBark
That bike fit me perfectly, too. My first tour on it was down the Pacific coast. The only thing requiring any attention was a minor head-set tighten (which I seem to need to do once on every new bike). I also used it for commuting. I finally gave it away to one of my grad students about 2005. I don't think she realized how nice it was. She eventually gave it to a bike co-op.
The one thing that makes me think the Soma was better was disc brakes. The 1990 trek hand cantilevers. They worked, but I've always been a bit cautious with that design of brakes. I knew a guy who lost a bunch of teeth when the bridging cable on the front brake broke.
I put tens of thousands of miles on my loaded '83 Trek 720. I have no problem with cantilever brakes and I would prefer them if I were touring again. They always stopped me even under load, and they never failed or got out of adjustment. And, that bike was only 18 speed and I was able to ride it wherever I needed to go.