Foghat,
How does it ride?
I so nearly bought one of them rather than my Enigma Etape - but the chap from Pearsons' on the phone put me off with his attitude.
Why don't you move the Dinotte battery to the area behind the seat tube?
It's a thoroughly excellent ride, Grub. I've spent a lot of time on it with Mavic Ksyrium wheels as well as these heavier commuting wheels, and it is very comfortable and smooth, no creaking. It's much more comfortable, and I think faster, than my current Number 1 non-mudguard bike, a 12-year-old aluminium-framed 9sp Dura Ace custom-frame job.
It feels well designed, with a couple of minor flaws:
i) the forks are meant to be for deep drop sidepull brakes , but in practice the shoes are virtually at the top of the range, meaning that tyre clearance is inadequate. The Continental Top Contact tyres state '32mm', but they are more like 28mm, but they almost touch the front of the front mudguard which cannot go any higher (the rear has better clearance).
ii) the head angle could be shallower, with more fork rake too maybe, to get more toe clearance. I'm an experienced cyclist, so don't find the toe overlap much of a problem, but if I had size 48 feet and was a novice, it could be a bit alarming.
I'm contemplating an Enigma at some point too. I went with the Pearson because there was no lead time and the lower weight of a carbon frame. I've only really dealt with William Pearson, who I've always found helpful, knowledgeable and affable, so maybe you just got someone on a bad day (although no real excuse for the wrong attitude to someone thinking of shelling out over £1,000).
Re. the Dinotte - I have considered putting it behind the seat tube, but thought it would probably keep slipping down to the bottle cage there, and my chosen position seems a better one for cable management as well as stability. I may test the seat tube option, though.
