I had a Soma Grand Randonneur from 2015 to 2019, the cream with green decals (not sure what version this means it is, v1 or 2?). It was a great bike, quick enough for me, and I rode it on a bunch of longer rides (generally under brevet distances, but often over 100km) as well as on gravel rides. I replaced it with my Hillborne in 2019 not because there was anything wrong with the Soma, but because I had been dreaming of a Hillborne and couldn't justify both. Plus I knew the Hillborne would be better suited to camp-loads.
I didn't have any significant shimmy issues with mine - the bike did wobble if I took my hands off the bars but just light forward pressure on the bars always made it stop. I didn't mind the feel of low trail when I rode the GR but i instantly preferred the 'carving corners' feeling of the Hillborne, so I would say low trail isn't really my personal preference (even with a front load). I will say, looking at my old strava segment times, I was definitely faster on the Gran Rando. All this to say, I think if it fits you well and you do want low trail, it's absolutely a fine bike as far as I'm concerned! As noted previously the rear triangle is pretty beefy, which is probably what's keeping the bike from really singing (I didn't find it stiff, but I didn't find it planed either). -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/79a520de-f40d-4de1-8ed4-784c9ad17907n%40googlegroups.com.
