Jamis Aurora vs. Aurora Elite vs. Something Else

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Have you consulted with TE member Elk? She has an Aurora. There are a couple of others too, but I know she has one.

[Running Mommy]

And he was pleased as punch! In fact he came back to report in that she was a smooth ride. He did a multi day ride on her, and said he was the most comfortable he's been in awhile.
So only thrid hand experience, but experience nonetheless..

[xeney]

Thanks, Running Mommy, that's the closest I've come to a real-life review of the Elite! I guess I should look for reviews of the old Nova.

Lisa, yes, I posted on elk's thread before I started this one.

[tulip]

xeney, you sound like an amazing person! Really! I run my own business from home, but I don't have kids. I also don't make it outside every day!

I really, really like Jamis bikes. I don't have an Aurora, but I it's on my short list for when the time comes to get a touring/cross bike. The Surly Crosscheck is also on that list. I have a Jamis Coda Comp. It's a flat-bar road bike with 700x28c tires. It was my commuting monster when I had "a real job."

I love the Jamis frames. I compare mine the suppleness of butter. I think they are very high quality at a reasonable price. I've never had any problem with mine. I now use it as an urban commuting bike.

Please let us know what you get and how you like it! Good for you for taking care of yourself even with your busy, busy life!

[KnottedYet]

That was my first impression of the Jamis Aurora, too! "Butter"! Just smooth and wonderful, and a delight!

I rode to the LBS on my aluminum bike, then test-rode the Aurora over the exact same route, and the difference was just amazing.

Smooth smooth bike.

[xeney]

I'm still having some trouble working out the fit on these bikes, and I'm starting to get depressed all over again. The Elite has the higher bottom bracket, and so does the Cross Check, but the Aurora does not, as far as I can tell. I know that affects sizing because the length of the seat tube will seem shorter than it is on a road bike, but it doesn't seem like it would change the actual distance my butt needs to be from the pedal to give me a decent pedal stroke.

I have a hard time working out in my head how the seat tube angle factors in, and I really wish I could just test a bunch of these bikes. On a road bike, a top tube length greater than 525 is really hard for me to manage, at least without using a really short stem, which I do not want to do on this bike. (That's a dealbreaker.) But I have longish legs ... on my 53cm road bike I have a very tall seat post with a lot of setback. So I am worried about going with, for instance, the 50cm Aurora, because the effective top tube length is 535 (too long for me, most likely) and I'm not sure it's going to be tall enough for me without pushing me even further back (with a setback seat post). The seat tube angle is 74, as opposed to 75 on my road bike, and I gather that buys me about another centimeter. But that doesn't seem like enough.

The 47cm Aurora has an effective top tube length of 513, which I think is probably too short, and I think overall that bike is going to be too small for me.

The 49cm Elite might be better ... it has different geometry, with a 74.5 degree seat tube angle, and the effective top tube length is 525. The standover height is about three inches higher than the 50cm Aurora and closer to what I think of as my size. (I know standover doesn't mean much, but it's at least a ballpark on the sizing.)

Arrrgh. I think this is just going down the same path that I went down with my road bike and I am not going to get a good fit. This is why I ride mixtes. My husband is now suggesting that we just put gears back on one of my mixtes and say to hell with modern bikes, and I think I am going to agree with him.

[tulip]

All those numbers make my eyes blurry. Which one feels comfortable to ride? Go with that, not the numbers (IMO, some will definitely disagree).

Nothing wrong with the mixtes if they work for you! Ride what's comfortable, not what the numbers tell you should be comfortable. Sometimes they don't match.