Thanks for the thorough review. It's well written with very good pictures.

I like the rear dropouts and brake mount, which gets you around the obvious rack mounting conflicts of conventional dropouts/disc brake mount.

I don't like the shortish chainstays. My size 45 shoes clear my not-the-largest-panniers on my LHT by 20-25mm. On the Sutra it would be 0-5mm. If I were to don neoprene overboots, then the Sutra would be unridable with rear panniers.

I don't like the P2 fork. I've run it and 2 other forks on my LHT, and the P2 is the worst at transmitting every single bit of road irregularity to my hands, even with larger, lower-pressure tires. Really beats you up. Also, the mid-leg mounting hole is drilled at the wrong height for many front racks. On the LHT, my rack cannot be mounted level, looks just like your picture. Over time the panniers tend to walk off the rack.

I'd prefer the Sutra be sold without racks. Many people have their own preferences on racks and bags, so this ends up being wasted money for many customers.

I went through the same bike evaluation as yourself, and decided I'd rather buy a LHT with correct frame geometry and just add a front disc brake. When you build them up from parts, a $47 avid bb7 is easy to choose vs cantis at nearly the same (or even greater) price. Only hard/expensive part is the fork.