Hub geared tourer - On-one pomp versa 11, Dawes Nomad, roll my own or something else?

So I thought I'd update this thread in case anyone wanted to know how the Nomad has treated me over the last 9 months. The only modification made from the original equipment has been swapping the crap gel saddle with a Brooks Flyer (basically a sprung B17).

The bad news from a review perspective is that it hasn't been taken on any multi-day tours as intended, for which I hold responsible work, weather and my laziness. It has however done some long one day rides, and been used as a commuter for a few weeks in total. Perhaps 1000 miles in total.

It's handled that workload marvellously. It's incredibly comfortable, both on London's famously well maintained roads, and on gravel tracks and other light off-roading tasks. It handles weight extremely well, and in fact feels better with ten or twenty kilos in the rear racks.

Clearly it's not fast, held up on the open road by a very upright riding position, and lots of weight, and in traffic by really wide bars, but that sort of goes with the territory.

Maintenance hasn't been problematic, got through a few brake blocks due to rain and load mostly I'd have thought, other than that it's required little attention. Had two punctures, and would consider Marathon Plus rather than the stock Marathons if I was taking it anywhere remote. Wheels are still true, again despite heavy loads and rough roads.

Had a bit of a failure with the rear rack, which was almost certainly Evans's fault failing to tighten it up properly, and a snapped chain which was probably a manufacturing defect on Shimano's part. The important part, the Alfine 11 has been perfect, except when I adjusted the chain tension and didn't RTFM to reset the indexing: which once done was very easy.

Overall I really like it, and just hope I do it justice next year with a proper tour.