I love this.
I have a Suntour preference myself and the long reach cyclone is a favorite of mine.
As for the Miyata comment…
My wife has a 210 Miyata tourer. It’s a heavy piece of iron, and she had big rack on the back, with collapsible basket, then she hung a U lock from the top tube because with her small size frames, it was the only place that didn’t interfere with the water bottle. Full sized fenders, the works. The result was a heavy bike with the weight high up. It always felt like it was trying to pull her down.
I found her an 80’s Cannondale ST 400, I set it up with short pull levers, and personalized cockpit. I hung a folding Z lock on the underside down tube bottle mount, to keep the weight really low. Lighter rack, race blade fenders, it probably weighs 8 pounds less, unloaded, AND the weight is placed MUCH lower down. She likes it a lot, and she can load it down for commuting and travel.
but riding them back to back, despite the downsides of the Miyata, she says that when it’s loaded down it feels like it “wants to go” in a way the Cannondale doesn’t.
The Dale is lighter, stiffer, better weight distribution…
who knows, it could be tires, right?
but that’s what she says.
it’s funny though, I think she and I have VERY different experiences even on the same models of bikes, because we ride such different sizes frames. She uses 46/48cm frames and I’m on 60cm frames. So the tubing on my frames is longer, plus the taller head tube, compared to the true triangle geometry that her frames have.
When someone says this or that frame feels a certain way, see what size they’re using, and if they’re a spinner or a masher. Lots of factors go into frame feel!