Originally Posted by tacomee
Go back to REI and ride the Safari loaded. It's always an option. It's not a light bike, but seems to be super stable loaded and unloaded. I've known other commuters/tourers who have lots of miles on the Safari under all kinds of conditions, and it has a good track record. I'd put up against any other touring bike on the market for stabilty.
I am actually seriously mulling over getting this bike. What came out of the test ride yesterday is that my hardtail is actually a little too big for me - not enough stand over clearance, top tube too long. To some extent I already knew this but I did not realize how much better the smaller frame would feel. Although I am not sure if the TT is still too long and would need to ride the bike a few more times to be sure.
I have read and reread the posts about the Safari here and on the Commuting Forum and it is not lost on me that Safari owner seem happy and they put a ton of miles on them. I think the bike is well thought out even if it is a bit of a chunk. Having said that, it seems bomb proof and I would not be afraid to beat on it as a commuter. To some extent the extra weight might be justified because it can be used for loaded touring and off road. The appeal of the Safari is it is ready to go as is. I hardly have to do anything to it except transfer my tires, lights and fenders to it. The disk breaks might be nice for commuting.
The draw back is that after I transfer my Marathon Plus tires, Mallet C pedals, fenders, bottle racks, and Nashbar front bag, I very well could have a 35 lb bike, which I am not thrilled about. This tends to hit me where it hurts as I have a 23.5 mile commute and I am not sure if this will slow me down. Although I tend to take the train a lot, which cuts it down to 15 miles round trip, which it should be good for, and an extra 5 lbs is only 2 to 3% of the total weight.
My other option is to strip the hardtail and transfer every thing to an LHT frame. Even though the LHT frame would be lighter and possibly faster, I am only luke warm about doing this. Under the best case scenario I might be able to get the LHT frame and a cheapish headset installed for $400 at my LBS (I know this is being optimistic). I rebuilt the hardtail last year and roughly put $200 worth of parts into it, which is not much. So $600 gets me an LHT with high mileage 12 year old components and cheap parts. On the other hand if I keep the hardtail intact I will try and get $200 for it with the Jandd Expedition rack. The Safari currently costs about $700 so at $500 net I get a new bike with new components.
To some extent I think analysis only gets you so far with these decisions. My thinking today is that I may have to try the Safari for a season or two and see what happens. If the weight and slowness is killing me I guess I can always pony up for the LHT frame and transfer over the Safari components. At least I would have newer, lower mileage components if I did that . . . . and I am not sure if I am ready for an LHT yet.