The bike rides very well and I like how it handles, but it will take some getting used to after years riding a heavy mountain bike. The skinnier 700 wheels are, surprisingly, not that big a deal for me.


The two things that are the most difficult for me to adapt to are the brake levers and the shifters.

The location of the brifters... this is new to me. The Raleigh I rode in the 80's had brake levers on the drops and on the hoods. I honestly can't remember where the shifter was.


The rear rack that came with the Randonee is a very sturdy, handsome rack. I still prefer the Tubus LOCC from my old bike, and I'm going to try to put that on the new bike. (I'll need to get a few adapter dookhickeys to install it.)


When I bought this Tubus Tara front rack for the mountain bike, it was sized to fit 26" MTB wheels. Wayne from The Touring Store suggested I try to fit my Tara and LOCC racks to the new bike. The Tara fit on very well!




I've always used plain platform pedals in the past. I'd assumed the cages would be the first thing I pulled off when I got the bike home, but I'm kinda diggin' them. I may replace them with straps, but I'm going to give these a chance.




This is the cleanest drivetrain I've ever had in this house.




After 20 years away from them, I forgot how much I liked drop bars. For all their faults - and they have many - the sheer number of hand positions possible is amazing. Does the GPS mean this isn't really a road bike?



This is the first modification I made to the bike. the stock saddle is pretty good, but this one is more comfortable so far. Time will tell, since I don't even have 10 miles on the bike yet.



a quickr pickr post

Edit: The last pic was in here twice, I snipped it out.

Excellent Choice!!



this pic is about a year old...Illpost new ones soon

Nice one Neil; you earned your new ride! She looks lovely.....

The more I see of the Novaras, the more I like them. Alas, haven't got an REI close to me, but then again, I really don't need another bike anyway. I do like the look of the Safari....... (looks wistfully into the distance)

Nice bike. I think you will enjoy it.

I don't have an REI near me either. It's kind of a pain to get there when it's a long drive... and I don't drive. Warranty tune-ups? It'd almost cost me more in tolls and gas than it would to just pay my LBS to do the work.

Wait theirs another touring bike other then a LHT? That bike looks great, hope you have many wonderful miles on her.

Thanks. I probably would have gone for an LHT if the smaller frames were available with 700 wheels.

Wow, that's a gorgeous bike! I'm sure you are going to enjoy it, particularly on the longer rides.

I too am getting used to drops, it's kind of a painful process, but they definitely have their benefits. Biggest of which, I think, is the whole "getting into the drops and hammering past a roadie on your 30lb touring bike" .

I also dig the reflective sidewall tires! That's one thing I wish Surly would have done, gone with Marathons with reflective sidewalls instead of Continentals (which, in their defense, are great tires).

Fine looking bike, I look forward to your touring pics/reports!

10 days until I load up the bike and start the big tour... gotta break it in!

So... what should I name the bike? I name all my guitars with female names - Kate and Millicent are the two names that really stuck. I'll probably continue that trend with the bike.

Oh, yeah - I picked up a Martin Backpacker to take on tour, I'll need to think of a name for that as well.

Nora
Call it Nora

NO vara
RA ndonee

Ok

george

Good choice! Well suited to what you've been planning.

Speedo

I always go with literary references. I have bikes named "Excelsior" ( from the Longfellow poem), "Roark" (from The Fountainhead), and "Sir Walter" (it's a Raleigh.) Now I need to find a name for the Schwinn Continental I picked up yesterday.....