was just about to post similar to Ampthill, on the face of it the Vagabond looks very similar tot he AWOL, but with more off-road biased gearing and slightly more rubber clearance. To be fair though the granny ring can go down to 26/24 on the AWOL for ~£15 so it’s not much of an issue, but I do think it probably should have been specced with a 26/36/46 or maybe even a 26/38/48 as stock.
EDIT – as Rusty says: “Lovely bikes with gearing that just doesn’t suit it.”
I can get 2-2.1 inch 29er tyres in my AWOL (sans-guards), you’d struggle to fit anything bigger, 42c with guards is easy though and as an all surface tourer it is brilliant.
Depends on your bias really, I think the Vagabond looks great, especially if you’re intending to use it offroad a bit more, but I do love my AWOL… 🙂
Personally I like the STI’s, but if you prefer bar-end shifters have a look at the Trek 920, it looks a bit quirky but it’s actually a really really good bike with sensible spec, a proper 29er MTB with drops style bike (28×36 bottom gear too) and if you like the looks I think it’s ace!