I stopped at RBWHQ on a road trip with the family in April and rode a Sam and AHH back to back. Intentionally comparing the 2... I'd been eyeing them online and was somewhat stumped/ perplexed by the claim of the Sam as the poor-man's Homer. Why shell out the extra dough if it's just a more expensive version of the same bike?
They seemed different enough to me. I'm sure some of the difference was because of the variations in the builds (I don't remember the specific components of the test ride bikes but the Sam was perhaps 60/40 in favor of country riding and the Homer was 60/40 in favor of urban riding), but even adjusting for the different builds in my mind (not quite sure how that works), the difference of my experience riding one vs the other was enough to me that I decided to save a few more nickels and wait until I could get a Homer. It wasn't that the Sam was "bad". It was fun to ride... comfy + solid feeling + zippy enough. I've re-test ridden the Sam at a LBS here in Seattle that has a 60cm on the sales floor just to see if the Sam could win me over to save the cash. I've been tempted to buy the Sam at the LBS just 'cause it would be instant gratification, but instead a couple months back, I put money down on a Homer from Walnut Creek. The Homer just seemed like a better fit for what I want in my next bike... a zippy around town light errand runner/commuter, weekend camper, and leisurely fun rides with the option to zip occasionally. The Homer was noticeably crisper in handling, stiffer (in a quick + responsive sort of way) and zippier. I'm 180lbs and don't really have aspirations of a big tour so the increased load carrying of the Sam isn't a selling point for me. I'm not interested to ride anything rougher than a dirt road so the big tires + beefy tubes of Hunq/Bombadil would be overkill for me. Even if the Roadeo came in my size I want the option to put racks on it so that's not an option. I might have considered an Atlantis if they came off-the-shelf in my size but again, not interested to tour. On top of the handling I think the Homer is a prettier bike. The blue is gorgeous. Homer is more proportionally "normal". The head badge is cooler. I like the Sam but I also like the Surly Cross Check. I was completely smitten by the AHH in a way that I've never been smitten by a bike before. Anyway, that was my experience riding them back to back. Hope this is useful. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/3UHN8mE9-0wJ. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
