I waited until I had ridden 100 miles before writing this review in order to give the bike a fair shake.  I should start by saying that I got the bike 40% off, so I have nothing to complain about.

There is a lot to like about the bike. Looks great, fenders match, reflective tires, internal gears are great for shifting when stopped, brakes work the same in the rain, nifty mug (for carrying my leftovers for lunch), seat doesn’t absorb rain. Gets up to speed quickly.

Oh, and the belt drive…absolutely looooove the belt drive. Super quiet and a real conversation starter. Some guy in a 5-series even rolled down his window to say he is considering one and wanted to know what i thought!

Things I don’t love:

* brakes are really weak. tried to come to a quick stop on a downhill at 20mph and the power just wasn’t there, had to swerve.

* downshifting is rough for some reason. upshifting is fine. also, the belt makes a noise when I’m pedaling really fast – LBS could not fix.

* Thin grips. Had to spend $40 to upgrade these to stop my hands from going numb.

If I had to do it over again I would go for disc brakes and the Alfine hub. The Giant TranSend EX would have been a better pickup for the same money, as ugly as it is (white chainguard on a forest-green bike?). Alfine, disc brakes, and Ergon grips. Wouldn’t surprise me if the 2011 Soho has those features…