I got an Azor Oma a couple of months ago after reading everything I could find about Azors, Retrovelos, Velorbises, Pashleys, and a few other bicycles of that kind. I talked to a lot of dealers, too, and got a lot of conflicting advice, about the Velorbises especially. I still wish I had been able to try the bicycles I spent so long investigating, but now, Oma in hand, what I feel about the other bikes is curiosity, no more.

One of the things that puzzled me while I was talking to dealers was their refusal to tell me how much their bikes weighed. They told me weight didn't matter. When I'm lugging my Oma up even two or three steps I feel how wrong they were to have said this--the thing weighs an absolute ton. There's no way on earth I could ever get it up an a car roof rack; it would need a crane. But when I am actually riding it's a whole different story: it feels not massive but smooth. The first time I took it out I had the very strange sensation of riding always down an otherwise imperceptible hill. The bicycle seemed to glide along of its own volition.

The geometry is, for me, wonderful--no neck or shoulder strain at all, something I had been been unsure of in the Retrovelos.

Friends (and bike shop people) who have taken the Oma out on test rides come back not just pleased but awed. It really does feel fantastic to ride.

One thing to be aware of if you do get an Azor, watcher, is that the tubes from which the racks are made are unusually large, which means not all panniers will fit them.