Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post.
I was interested that you said that you used the Etape for club runs - I'd have expected you to use the Esprit for club runs, with it being quicker. Although I can see that mudguards would be useful on a wet day when riding in a group.
Thankfully I have a very good bike shop within about 30 miles and they have Etape and Echo test bikes, so I'll be able to experience them both for myself, but the information that you kindly provided will be very useful as well.