Just a few final thoughts on having taken the Sport Tour 600 miles around the unrelenting hills and mountains of Andalucia: simply awesome!
First and foremost, the Rohloff gears are superb for the relentless ripping up and down through the gears that this sort of landscape requires and and also for being able to engage the correct gear just that little bit faster than with standard gears. Combined with the even spacing, I found it noticeably easier to maintain momentum through constant ups and down or for long climbs containing varying gradients.
Just to reiterate previous postings, the handling and comfort of the Sports Tour is excellent, even on the persistently shockingly poor road surfaces that I covered for considerable distances in the Sierra Morena. In these conditions, I found it to be as least comfortable as a fork and seat suspended aluminium frame, lighter and much more responsive in terms of handling. My only ocassional concern was on fast descents into strong headwinds when the bike did feel a bit wobbly, almost too responsive and I had to concentrate pretty hard if I happened to be on a busy road. To what degree this was partly due to having a handle bar bag and no front panniers, I'm unsure. Other comments appreciated.
Whether this Sports Tour is actually a fast bike, I can't as yet provide any scientific testimony because I haven't actually yet ridden any of my habitual training circuits in normal conditions. Certainly, I find that the Rohloff hub allows for quicker and easier acceleration due to the ease of quickly selecting gears and on my initial ride, I also immediately shaved 5 mins off a ride I would have expected to cover in 45 mins. I also feel more at ease going faster downhill due to the excellent handling and freewheeling, it certainly picks up the pace very quickly.
However on tour, I was doing some the longest 50/60 mile days I've ever clocked up but cannot stress enough that I perceive this being due to the total absence of any flat stretches and the general severity of landscape contours. I expect to do a quick 40 mile stint over the Essex Rodings within the next couple of weekends so I'll report back then if I notice any improvement.
Finally - off road, although I think Stutho's given a pretty comprehensive assesment indicating that the Sport will cope with more than "light" off-roading (an off road thrashing by the sounds of it!), I thought I'd chip in with my experience of riding up the highest recognised mountain pass in Western Europe (Pico Veleta, Sierra Nevada) with 12kgs of luggage, my only off-roading of the tour. Again the Sports Tour handled well over the habitually absymal tarmac road and then gravelled/dirt track.
When I reached 9,500 ft though, I took exception to the term "cyclable" used by the authors of an otherwise excellent cycling guide to define the rock-strewn track to the summit. Certain stretches, particularly if you were going uphill with luggage, certainly weren't, consisting solely of stretches of mountain rock debris. Whilst not ever really having done any serious off-roading, I found it hard to envisage even the most serious suitably equipped hardcore off-road enthusiast getting over these.
The rest of the track generally had so many loose rocks that you could only proceed with extreme caution given the steep drops running trackside. Whilst the laden Sports Tour with Sun Rims and Panracer tyres (yes I know!) seem to cope well with an very uneven surface, I soon became fed up of dismounting and mounting for uncyclable sections and also concentrating solely on rock-avoidance rather than absorbing the breathtaking views; so I walked most of the remaining 4 or so miles to the summit of approx 10,300ft, which at that altitude actually felt like harder work than cycling.
The 30 mile winding descent back into Granada was rewarding to say the least, wide open smooth traffic free asphalt for the mostpart. Covered at about 30-35mph, it was pretty much as enjoyable an experience you can get in terms cycling experience and all the better for being on a Raven Sports Tour!
Photos to follow!
