Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
That is interesting. My wife has an old REI Novara Randonee that's exactly like this thing. Works fine, especially for short legs. Very versatile. MTB tires for off road, HP road tires for pavement. The heel strike issue is solved by going light, using either small panniers or none. Chainrings on the Surly look under geared to me. Rings on my wife's bike are larger, though smaller than standard road rings. Probably fine for touring singletrack, though.
Do you have a picture of your wife's Randonee? I have an older Randonee also. It's steel, very small (13.5in), and takes 26" wheels. It looks like a mountain touring bike as I have it set up with flat bars, semi-knobby tires, fenders and front/rear racks for my commute. It's a great bike! I call mine "Morgan", like the Morgan Horse, very versatile.