New Bike Recommendations?
 

I'm not sure that this is the best place for this question, but here it goes:

I'm working on buying a new, complete bike. I decided weeks ago that I wanted an All-City Space Horse (just had to wait for the income tax return to come through). But in the last day or two I've second-guessed myself and am now wondering about the Raleigh Roper.

I'm relatively new to biking - I fell in love with my Raleigh Rush Hour while in a very flat place, but I've moved somewhere hilly and need gears - so I'm not entirely sure what I want to do. I am definitely set on steel; I'm willing to sacrifice weight for smooth ride and durability. I don't see myself racing, but I would like the ability to do long-ish rides, and maybe one- or two-night mini-tours. I'm also looking at doing the C&O Canal in MD/DC next year, but that would be supported so I wouldn't have to carry tents and stuff. I guess the short version is that I want one bike that can do almost everything, up until my hardtail mountain bike becomes necessary.

I know that the 105 group on the Roper is nicer than the Tiagra that comes on the Space Horse, but I've been told it's not a big enough difference for a novice to really notice. Initially, I thought I wanted disc brakes, so that's a nice feature on the Roper, but I've since been convinced it's not really a big deal except on mountain bikes, particularly because disc brakes are heavy. I'm going to test ride things before I buy anything, so fit might end up being the deciding factor. Or the fact that the Space Horse is so pretty. I just want to make sure I've considered everything.

Any thoughts/suggestions/instructions to try a different thread would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

They look very close. Raleigh has the slight edge in components and it has disc brakes. The All City is, maybe a half lb lighter. Both versatile steel frames, capable of everything from leisure rides to short tours.

I have the Salsa Casseroll, which is very similar to the Spacehorse (maybe identical, as Salsa and All City are owned by the same parent company), for almost 2 years and I love it. That said, had I known about the Raleigh when I was bike shopping, I might have put it on my short list. BTW, another bike in this category is the Jamis Bossanova.