Jamis Aurora vs. Aurora Elite vs. Something Else

[dex]

Have you looked into the Soma Smoothie ES at all? Soma describes it as a "less aggressive road sport geometry", but the stuff that made me think of it for what you describe included: steel frame, choice of steel or carbon fork, rack and fender mounts, and it will fit up to 32c tire with fenders. And because it's not specifically a cross or touring bike, it seems to have a wider selection of sizes to choose from.

Here's the description from the Soma site:
http://somafab.com/extrasmoothie.html

And here's the geometry charts: (the page is kind of a mess, you'll have to scroll down the page to find the right model)
http://somafab.com/geometry03.html

There's also a page that lists their dealers, and it looks like they have several in Sacramento (and a big bunch around the Bay Area, in general).
http://somafab.com/somadealersca.html

I've actually been thinking about getting one of these frames and a steel fork to build up into commuter/light tourer, but don't tell my road bike. She's demanding new wheels before I do anything else with my bike budget.

[KnottedYet]

Somas are lovely. I was yearning for their DoubleCross (the equivalent of a Surly Cross Check, in fact Surly copies Soma according to my LBS #2).

[xeney]

Ohhh. I did look at Soma, but only the Doublecross, which does not come in a size that will work for me. The Smoothie ES in a 50 cm would fit me, I bet. My husband is dying to build me a bike (he just did a frame-up build of his latest road bike) and wanted me to look at Soma in particular. I am going to have him look at this and see what he thinks.

Thank you, dex!