On Sunday I travelled down to Bridgwater in Somerset as I had an appointment with SJS Cycles on Monday. I stayed at the Admiral Guest House which had 2 other South Africans staying there too! Small world. It was more a hostel than hotel but they were friendly blokes.
On Monday morning I met with Steve who’s worked at SJS for 11 years he told me! I was pretty impressed with the time and effort he took with me – from 0930 through to 1330 – asking what I intended to use the bike for, taking my measurements, finding out what I’m looking for and then looking at the various setup’s available, sizes, options etc and finally, test rides! I test rode 2 different Nomads, the smaller black one shown below with flat bars and the bigger yellow framed one with comfort bars. We initially thought the black bike would be the right one as the yellow bike is big…but, after riding both, it became clear the yellow setup was what I was looking for – it felt comfortable that was the main thing. When riding the black back there was a lot of pressure on my wrists and hands and it was not comfortable – I want a more comfortable riding position and the yellow bike offered that. You can see how high the saddle is on the black bike…mad. The seat post on the yellow bike is a Thud Buster – it’s not included in a default build but comes as extra – I don’t think I’ll add it, even though it felt pretty good.
Both bikes had the Rohloff hub – an internal gearing system which I’ll be going for. Check out their website if you want to know more: https://www.rohloff.de/en/
The black bike had the Son Dynahub fitted on the front hub – I’ll also be going with that along with a Sinewave stem USB output. I’ll probably also be going with the light – it’s expensive though, £125, but for safety, it’s probably worth it.
I was toying with getting the Surly Nice front rack but it adds 1.5KG to the bike and £120…just for some extra flat loading space…maybe not worth it.
I would go for a black frame along with black components, unlike the red on the black bike below.
Brookes saddle in honey along with a black frame will look sweet I reckon – I’ve never used a Brookes before and I’ve heard mixed reviews. Apparently it’s like marmite…I’ll give it a go.
The black bike also has the s+s couplings which I will not be going for – another expensive add-on – £500! Those are the silver bits on the top tube and down tube which allow you to split the frame in two so you can transport the bike easily when travelling by air.
