Raleigh Sojourn

[Laru]

I am so in love with the Raleigh Sojourn but haven't had a chance to see it in person yet. We have no bike shops in my town and the closest ones are a little over an hour in either direction from here(Baton Rouge or New Orleans). I'll have to leave work early one afternoon and really... I can't afford it anyway...
Has anyone ridden it? What did you think? Can you tell me something horrible about it so I can stop my obsessive coveting?
: )
Laru

[KnottedYet]

cool bike! http://www.raleighusa.com/bikes/road/sojourn/
It's like they took the best of a Trek 520 and a Kona Sutra, and painted it like a Kogswell. (And added the Brooks so many tourers end up with!) I have those same tires on two of my bikes.

Very nice! I hope you can find one to test ride!

[mimitabby]

we didn't ride it, but we drooled all over it at Bike Expo.
that is a beautiful bike and a great idea! I hope they come in a size that fits you perfectly. Then we want to see a picture of you on it.

[dex]

The Sojourn is awesome. But definitely call ahead to shops before making the trip, because most places sold them as soon as they started hitting the shop floors. According to one of the bike shops here, Raleigh only did a run of about 500 of these this year. And people started calling about them as soon as they were featured in the Bicycling mag Buying Guide issue.

Two weeks ago, there were only a few left in Seattle. (At least according to this shop.) Unfortunately, none were in my size or it *so* would have been mine.

[Tuckervill]

Gee, Thanks...now I'M obsessing over it!

It is a beautiful bike, and I share your pain about not having bike shops nearby, and the ones that are not having what you want.

Karen

[Laru]

Y'all are supposed to say "No, No, No You do not want that bike. It is so bad because of X, Y, Z" ...and so on
:)

*sigh*

[farrellcollie]

Now there is another bike I covet. I don'tknow whether it is good or bad that it doesn't appear to come small enough for me.

[mimitabby]

The fact is, Laru, you have good taste. That's a bike a lot of us might have purchased if they'd made it 4 years ago! or 3 years. or 2 years.

But if you don't have THE bike yet, this one would be a great candidate.

[Laru]

I can't go test ride until I can convince the huzband that I need it. I had 5 bikes up until a couple weeks ago. Sold all but 2 (kept an old rusty Raleigh Tourist and my current mixte Schwinn Le Tour). If I got the Sojourn he'd make me part with another one and I neeeed all these bikes! He just doesn't get it.

I read that Raleigh had undervalued the Sojourn and that prices will go up on the next run. Plus steel is going up so hopefully I can convince him that, by spending $1000, I am actually Saving $$
He might be too smart to fall for that line. :p

[dex]

Found one! In my size!! Yay!!! :D

Ok, so I haven't ridden it yet because it's still boxed up in a warehouse, BUT after the shop fetches it in the morning and builds it up, I have first dibs. w00t! I sooo excited. No, really. Way excited.

I test rode a Surly Long Haul Trucker and a Kona Sutra today. I have to say I liked the Sutra more than the LHT, which was weird because when I rode the LHT last summer I absolutely loved it but I wasn't feeling that love today.

But, I kept glancing longingly at the (too big) Raleigh Sojourn sitting on the floor. The (very helpful) guy answering my questions and helping me spend my money mentioned that he thought they might have one in my size in the warehouse. This came as a surprise because the last time I was in that particular shop they emphatically told me they only had a few, and they were all 55cm and up. So, he looked it up and...ta-da! Indeed, a 53cm was sitting in the warehouse just waiting to be freed from its box. :cool:

It should be ready for me to test ride on Tuesday. If it lives up to its looks...I'm taking it home.

(My opinion of Recycled Cycles was raised many, many notches today when I went in and actually had my questions answered and was shown many, many bikes...and when they found a 53cm Sojourn in their warehouse for me to try out.)

There was also a really pretty older Terry Classic on the floor, and if I were shorter and able to comfortably ride WSD bikes, I probably would have been all over it.

[KnottedYet]

Oh! Oh! Oh!

You MUST write a review, even if you don't buy it!

Yeah, I saw that Terry yesterday too. It's been there a while. I can't believe no-one has snapped it up yet. Was the red Burley tandem still there? Only $600. I was *this* close to buying it... but "someone" stopped me. I have no self-restraint.

[dex]

The tandem was still there. It's only $600? Good thing I don't have anyone to ride a tandem with, or I might have been tempted. I think we may have similar self-control issues. Heh. :p

Actually, they had several nice used bikes out today, including a 49cm Cannondale touring bike for less than $400. Too small for me, but very pretty.

A review will definitely be forthcoming. I've been wanting to try the Sojourn for months now. Did I mention that I'm excited?? :D :rolleyes:

[Beane]

the last time I was at yellow jersey (http://www.yellowjersey.org/) they had one, but I don't know what size it was. since they sell stuff on ebay and are very knowledgeable and helpful (usually) I'm sure they'd be willing to ship it...

[withm]

nice looking bike...

But what's with the bar end shifters? Not sure I could ever get used to those and having to actually move my hands so far to shift.

[Zen]

oh, I don't know about that.
if I can manage bar end shifters, you definitely can :o

That Raleigh reminds me of the Trek Portland.

[bikerHen]

I was a little afraid of the bar end shifters on my LHT but now I love em! When I started riding my road bike it took quite a few rides to stop reaching for the bar ends to shift.

Now the down tube friction shifters on my new/old mixte, thoses are scary. :eek: bikerHen

[dex]

But what's with the bar end shifters? Not sure I could ever get used to those and having to actually move my hands so far to shift.

The barcons definitely take some getting used to, but it's a pretty shallow learning curve. The first few blocks of test ride felt a little wobbly, but by the time I'd shifted a few times, I was feeling perfectly fine/stable/comfortable <-- this is saying quite a lot for clumsy, uncoordinated me. :o
I'm told the biggest advantage of these over STI shifters is ease of maintenance/repair when out in the middle of nowhere.



That Raleigh reminds me of the Trek Portland.

It's a very similar bike, but in steel and about $600 less. Add in the Brooks saddle (which I already ride and love on my other bikes), full fenders and rear rack and I'll probably squeal with glee if the fit works for me. :D

(still excited, despite the food poisoning that found me last night...)

[Zen]

(still excited, despite the food poisoning that found me last night...)

Brief hijack but an important one.
you didn't by chance have raw tomatoes, did you?

[dex]

Brief hijack but an important one.
you didn't by chance have raw tomatoes, did you?

I didn't. It was shrimp. Evil, evil shrimp.

I'm allergic to raw tomato...I break out in big, painful bumps on the side of my torso and my face. Ugly stuff. And tragic, because until that started happening, I loved tomatoes. Is there a tomato poisoning thing going on? If yes, I should tell my parents, as my dad loves his raw tomatoes.

[Eden]

The Raleigh looks like a lovely bike - too bad it comes in such a limited size range....

Dex - re the Cannondale, was it one of the old oversized aluminum tube ones? My parents had those. IMHO handled like mud. Not really a bike I liked. (heck it might be my mom's.... she gave it to me and I gave it to someone I'm pretty confident probably never rode it.... was it black and red with some funky, funky bar covering that looked like a bunch of little rubber tabs?)

[dex]

I noticed the limited size range. I hope that's a side effect of this being the first production year, and in testing the waters for adding this kind of bike to their line they just decided to go with "common" sizes. Then again, finding touring-type bikes in smaller sizes seems like it might be a pretty big challenge--at least from what I've seen when browsing around online.

The Cannondale I saw was dark blue with black decals. I didn't bother trying to ride it, because when I hopped up on it in the store, it was pretty immediately obvious that it was too small for me. I did get a good laugh at how, um, squished my chest was with the 38cm bars on it, though. Heh.

I've gotten a couple of proddings from friends to check out the Salsa Casseroll and the Soma Speedster, as well. So, I might go seek those out this afternoon. (How much do I love giving myself time off from work? I'll be back to the daily grind tomorrow, so I might as well take advantage while project schedules will allow.)

[Zen]

Tomato salmonella http://news.google.com/news?q=tomato+salmonella&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&hl=en&sa=X&oi=news_group&resnum=1&ct=title

[7rider]

It's a very similar bike, but in steel and about $600 less. Add in the Brooks saddle (which I already ride and love on my other bikes), full fenders and rear rack and I'll probably squeal with glee if the fit works for me. :D


$600?? All I get is "$$$$$" for the price info on the Raleigh site, and no price info comes up.
The Portland is spec'ed oodles better than the Sojourn - a nice mix of 105 and Ultegra and the BB7's are primo.
Can't speak for the ride of either...but my LBS is a Trek AND a Raleigh dealer. Hmmmm....

[dex]

*sigh* The Sojourn is not to be.

I did manage to go in on Tuesday to ride it, and was still almost giddy at the prospect. It is soooo pretty.

But, it's also soooo heavy. Don't get me wrong, the ride is nice and smooth. And those WTB Dirt Drop bars are awesome (and the leather bar tape is pretty awesome, too)--in fact, if WTB releases the dirt drop with an internal diameter that will accommodate barcons, I'm going to have to get some (apparently the version on the Sojourn were a special run made just for Raleigh). But the bike is just so very heavy.

Add to it that I kept getting my feet tangled up in the front fender when trying to do some slow turns...Not so much with the good there. :(

So I didn't buy it.

But, all is not lost. My quest for a good commuter/light tourer/all-arounder type bike marches on. I test rode a Salsa Casseroll at Free Range Cycles and just about fell in love. We're going to try one size smaller with a longer stem to see if we can find me a touch more standover clearance. I'm running into my usual problem of getting enough length in the top tube on bikes that are short enough for me to stand over. (i.e. By the time a bike is short enough in height for my stumpy legs, it's usually *way* too short in length. <-- The guys at Counterbalance helped me figure out that was why I was so uncomfortable on the Long Haul Trucker that I rode recently.)

[KnottedYet]

Sorry it wasn't a blissful bike for you, Dex.

But those Caserolls sure are purty!

Free Range is my *other* LBS. I took Trek there to try a LHT, and Bikerhen there to buy one. They truly understand steel bike love. (and the chickie who owns Free Range is just plain cool. I keep telling DebW she needs to apply for a job HERE, not out there on the east coast!)

Got my fingers crossed for ya!

ETA: guess I'll stop lusting after the Sojourn, and keep lovin' on my Surly Cross Check.

[Laru]

*sigh* The Sojourn is not to be.

I did manage to go in on Tuesday to ride it, and was still almost giddy at the prospect. It is soooo pretty.

But, it's also soooo heavy. Don't get me wrong, the ride is nice and smooth. And those WTB Dirt Drop bars are awesome (and the leather bar tape is pretty awesome, too)--in fact, if WTB releases the dirt drop with an internal diameter that will accommodate barcons, I'm going to have to get some (apparently the version on the Sojourn were a special run made just for Raleigh). But the bike is just so very heavy.

Add to it that I kept getting my feet tangled up in the front fender when trying to do some slow turns...Not so much with the good there. :(

So I didn't buy it.

But, all is not lost. My quest for a good commuter/light tourer/all-arounder type bike marches on. I test rode a Salsa Casseroll at Free Range Cycles and just about fell in love. We're going to try one size smaller with a longer stem to see if we can find me a touch more standover clearance. I'm running into my usual problem of getting enough length in the top tube on bikes that are short enough for me to stand over. (i.e. By the time a bike is short enough in height for my stumpy legs, it's usually *way* too short in length. <-- The guys at Counterbalance helped me figure out that was why I was so uncomfortable on the Long Haul Trucker that I rode recently.)

dang, sorry it didn't work for you. I never went and tried one myself. Talked myself down...
That's disappointing about the bars being special made for Raleigh. I wanted to get those bars for my bike! I just put the velo orange "left bank" bars w/ reverse levers on my mixte and, lemme tell ya, I am sooo much more comfortable! I think I can hang with what I have for a while.

Hope the casseroll works out because that is a very nice bike.
: )