Soma Steel Frames

[sackcycle]

Has anyone bought a Soma frame? www.westernbikeworks.com

[Jason]

Soma's are nice bikes for the $$$.

They are distributed through hawley company (almost a house-brand), much like Surly is with Quality (QBP.)  Basic frames, nice quality, smooth riding (as is the case with steel frames.)  I would argue in terms of quality, they are very much on par with anything from Surly.  A guy a work has a Soma Smoothie and I have a Surly Cross Check.  While different in terms of geometry, etc, the build seems to be identical.  Since you're asking the question on a forum dealing with bike-touring, you're going to get probably too many comments in favor of a Surly this or that.  I have one, I like it, but I also wanted a bike able to handle single speed touring, so Surly was really it in terms of frames competitively priced.

The Soma touring frame, the Saga, specs out to be in effect a Long Haul Trucker.

j