Thank you!

The Sequoia Expert (US $3500) is around 11kg. Based on that figure, I’d guess the Sequoia Elite (US $2500) to be 11.7kg and the Sequoia (US $1300) to be 12.5kg+.

You can expect the AWOL (US $1200) to be 14kg or more. The AWOL Expert (US $2500) with racks, fenders and dynamo lighting would be a touch under 16kg.

The tube profiles and geometry are sweet. The hover bar is very clever and the pinnacle of it all is the fork. The steel fork profiles have been well researched and designed. It was definitely designed by a person who knows his stuff.

The whole stealth look is great. Good quality components. The new Sora is cheap and dependable and the gearing is fine for the purpose.

Its just an excellent valued all round package. The saddle is great and the tyres are not an afterthought but fit in perfectly with the ideology of the genre.

It looks sleek. My only niggle is the lack adjustable dropouts but you can bet your life on it next year the frameset comes with them. This Black version will shift quickly. The other two wont. Simply down to colour. Its simple. Buy the black version. Sell the Sora. Upgrade with 105 hydraulic groupset with a 40 tooth cassette out back and one of those dérailleur extenders. Put fenders on. This is a true bike to travel the world lightly.

Check out any bikes that I describe as “light touring” bikes. Many of the bikes I overview on CyclingAbout fall into this category. If you’d like to read about them more in-depth, as well as compare them side-by-side, there’s lots of information in my book too.

Thanks! I’m looking for a touring bike that will handle rear panniers (or front) to carry fairly light (no camping gear) loads. My Specialized Ruby 2011 is wonderful, but the carbon fiber frame won’t support racks. Any suggestions? Surfaces to ride would include pavement, bike trails, dirt roads.

Thanks!

The smallest Sequoia frame has a 29 inch standover. Standover is the vertical measurement of the central point of the top tube.

At this stage, I’m afraid not. The flat mount brake design is intended for 140/160mm rotors. That said, third party brands could potentially offer their own brake mount adapters soon.

We have the 2015 Salsa Fargo 2, with carbon fork, Cane Creek ST seat post and 42/28 chainrings and a 11-36 cog set. We like the carbon form better than any steel fork we’ve ridden. The suspension seat post is well worth the small weight penalty, as you can stay seated and pedaling on bumpy roads. The gearing is perfect for our needs in the hilly west coast of the US. The Specialized Sequoia looks interesting, but the higher gearing is a minus for us. My question is whether the Specialized can be upgraded to 180 mm rotors front and back. I’m a big guy and had to go to 180 mm rotors on the Fargo, which were explicitly authorized for the Fargo by Salsa.