Originally Posted by
Rick
I ordered my Co-Motion Pangea Rohloff late November 2013. I received it in March 2014. I ordered all the frame options and the light package. I also ordered the sloped down tube and the fork stays for the Schmidt Son SL alternator hub. The shop used spokes and rims that didn't allow for a good spoke line between the rim and Rohloff hub. I used Sapim spokes and Velocity Psycho rims. The Psycho's are a box style rim and around as heavy as the Ryde Andra rims. I had the wheels out a few weeks ago and the true has not changed. I don't ride on the dirt much but the desert roads are full of cracks.
I built up my Thorn Nomad Mk II about a half year before you ordered your Pangea.
I considered the Pangea frame and fork, but I bought the Nomad frame and fork, mostly due to lower price. I had previously bought a used Thorn Sherpa frame and was very happy with that bike so I had high confidence in Thorn. Later I tried using my Nomad on a mountain bike trip, bought a low end Rockshox suspension fork for it, as that frame was designed to work with a 100mm suspension fork or the solid fork that came with it. Thus, although I did not plan on the suspension fork when I bought the frame, it became a plus that I could use that fork for a trip later. That would not have happened if I bought the Pangea.
And I have had my Nomad on some pretty bad roads. When you see something in the road that is smaller than a tennis ball, you do not bother steering around it, that says something about the road.
And with the suspension fork, below. This trip was day tripping from campsites that we were car camping at.
I find it a bit humorous that I bought the Nomad Mk II, in part because it was available with S&S couplers from the factory. And later took advantage of the ability to use a suspension fork. But in the past year they came out with a new model, the Nomad Mk III, that does not offer the S&S couplers or the correct geometry for the suspension fork. Thus if I was buying today, I would likely have gone with the Pangea over the Thorn. They dropped the optional S&S and ability to use suspension fork due to lack of interest, thus I appear to be an unusual buyer.
If you are not aware, Rohloff now provides flange support rings with new hubs to support the flanges if you crack a flange, the rings support the flange and allows your trip to continue. They suggest adding the rings if you rebuild the wheel. I went ahead and added them although I was not actually rebuilding the wheel, in my case I only removed half the spoke nipples so I could slide the rings on. But I built up the wheels in the first place so I knew what I was doing. If you do not know how to build a wheel, this would not be the one to learn on.