They do stop great two fingered. Shifters don’t get in the way at all however I have freakishly large Hands. I can’t speak to the feel with smaller paws. They are a hit in the cyclocross scene. My LBS does sell a lot of them too.

I like the look of those Gevenelle things – especially as the ratchet inside Rival shifters appears to be made of cheese. Shame they don’t appear to work with SRAM hydro brakes.

How is the 650b conversion coming along, voodoo?

is the blue one the same as this years orange one

blue one seems to have more semi slick 47mm tyres, orange one has 45mm tyres

some cheap blue ones around in my size, so tempted,

I think the orange one has slightly different chainstays, to make a bit more room for fatter tyres. 40c Nanos seem to suit me perfectly, but I think you can still get a 2-inch MTB tyre into the blue one if you wanted to.