I've been riding mine for a few hundred miles now, so I thought I'd comment.
I really like it.
Mine is the stock model, except for the wheels which I supplied myself, with the SRAM Apex transmission.
Problem is, but I'm not sure how to write a review of a bike. It's so dependent upon what you were used to before. In my case a 1980s Dawes Shadow fettled repeatedly, Trigger’s Broom style, until only the frame, bars and mudguards remained.
I've found it a really smooth comfortable ride. I've done a couple of long rides (for me that's 100 miles) on it and ended up feeling maybe a bit less beaten up afterwards than I did on my other bike. I've also done a couple of brisk rides on it and felt like I could go a bit quicker, and keep up with scary fast guys (all psycho wotnot I'm sure). It’s like my old bike but nicer. How much of that is me unconsciously justifying the grand I spent on it, I can’t say.
It has a much higher top gear than my old bike (50/11 vs 48/13). I didn't think I would need or use this, but it turns out that I really appreciate it and often find myself trying to change up past top gear. After test riding I also chose to have the bars slightly further forward than my other bike, and I like that - but this is down to fitting rather than the bike itself. (I spent half a day Spa riding bikes, swapping stems, adding/removing spacers, tweaking the saddle, riding again, they were very helpful.)
The other end of the range, (34/32) is what I was used to, and gets me up anything in my area … weary legs permitting.
I'm new to indexed gears and all that malarkey, being a friction shifter kind of guy before. I've unshipped the chain a couple of times, but that probably means that the gearing may need a small tweak. Note to self: must learn how to do this.
One thing I would note is the saddle is the Passport Navigator which was fitted as standard. The guy in at Spa said this was the cheapest decent saddle they could find, and many people would fit their own, or order a different one. I intended to swap this over for my B17 off my other bike, but never got around to it, and (whispers) I think I prefer it to the Brooks!
Oh, and it’s all new and shiny. That’s the best bit.
