Was looking at Craigslist and came across a guy who is riding from Florida to California on his Safari. Said no trouble, no broken spokes or ? Nice to hear as some may be considering this bike in their future :-)

Look at the photo, boy is he loaded with stuff. Bike looks like it has not been babied. he was a BIG guy (280) and lost 50 lbs or so on his trip.










wll

I took one out for a test ride yesterday. I liked it! It really felt good. I'm thinking on buying one the next time REI has their 20% members only sale. It'll be a good bike to tour on gravel and dirt roads.
Ciao,
Timothy

I have been researching new bikes for quite awhile now and almost everything I have read so far about the Safari is positive. I looked at building an old Schwinn Frontier steel frame mountain bike, but for the money the Safari is a better deal with the REI guarantee. I know the steel vs aluminum debate, but I never plan on using the bike outside the industrial world (US, Canada, EU etc...). So I ordered one and it is on back order now and should arrive at the store sometime at the end of NOV, can't wait.

Looks like a real load. I think he is traveling alone so I wonder what it up with what looks like two foam pads. It looks like he has 5 pounds of padding on the bars and a 10 pound saddle. I guess whatever works...

It is a testimonial to the bike that it carried all of that stuff plus a 280 pound rider.

For anyone interested, here is his blog...

https://www.visceralcycling.com/blog/index.html

At 280lbs (which is also my weight) a second pad would be (somewhat) necessary for a good comfortable nights sleep.
That's just what popped in my head when reading your post.
A thicker foam pad wouldn't roll up as small, so maybe he chose 2 for that reason.
Or maybe in case one got stolen or something.

Is that a drug-sniffing dog checking out the bike? Most cops I know would think you would need to be on drugs to ride across the country!