The frustration of a (long distance) bike buyer...
Re: The frustration of a (long distance) bike buyer...
Relax, buy the Panorama, cracking bike and little difference from the Galaxy other than it does not have the bar end shifters (who uses them?)
Re: The frustration of a (long distance) bike buyer...
I was looking at a 2012 Panorama yesterday in Evans in Nottingham, and they've changed the design of the Alex DH19 rims specced on it, making them a flatter profile, so that hopefully they won't fail like the old design. It's got a cheaper chainset than mine, but that is to stick with the more reliable square taper design.
Re: The frustration of a (long distance) bike buyer...
I was in a similar position last year so I reviewed all touring bikes available long distance with an open mind including North American designed imports.Thorn looked fine bikes if you like flat hbars rather than drops. No local North Kent dealers stocked any touring bikes as far as I could tell but within a short train ride Brixton cycles and Triton cycles in London had the tasty looking Surly Long Haul Trucker available for test riding. However I popped into Evans Waterloo first on the off chance where they had the Jamis Aurora Elite in my size available for a test ride which was a nice lightweight tourer for a circuit around the streets.I added the Kona Sutra to my shortlist which Evans also stock and whilst I was considering the list price of the current model went on special 20% off and having heard nice things about it I plumped for the Kona which is a great ride complete with disc brakes and racks front and rear. The bike was set up and delivered to my door complete with only hbars and pedals needing set up.Well done Evans who seem to pioneer some of the US brands which are more innovative in design than others and will build up a bike for a test ride on request.