thorn touring bike

david12656
david12656 Posts: 32
edited November 2007 in Tour & expedition
going to buy a new touring bike either a thorn club tour or a sherpa.cant make my mind up about 26 inch wheels anyone got a sherpa if so what do you think about it

Comments

  • Cunobelin
    Cunobelin Posts: 11,792
    Not quite the answer you want, but.................

    I have recently bought a Thorn Raven Tour for my wife and Nomad for myself.

    The wheels are part of the package, and accepted as such. Tio be quite honest if you get the gearing right you will not notice a difference, and the aded tougness shows in reliability rather than in the performance or the ride.

    Thorn are well set up bikes, it is worth visiting and trying out as they are suportive and the advice is good.
    <b><i>He that buys land buys many stones.
    He that buys flesh buys many bones.
    He that buys eggs buys many shells,
    But he that buys good beer buys nothing else.</b></i>
    (Unattributed Trad.)
  • alfablue
    alfablue Posts: 8,497
    There is some logic to selecting 26 inch wheels if touring overseas as (apparently) replacement 700c tyres or wheels are unavailable in many places.
  • Well I got a Thorn Club Tour and I can not go on about how good the bike is. Fully loaded its a dream and empty aswell. I did alot of research before I bought it and its a bike for life really. Very comfortable to ride and it feels and is solid. The company SJS are very friendly, helpful and teched up to their eyeballs with knowledge of cycles. When I had a problem with my mavic open pros cracking up after doing 1000 miles, they simply said I should not have had these rims if I was going touring fully loaded. When I explaind I asked for a cycle I could ride to China and back fully loaded, there was no chit chat about it, they simply asked me to parcel back the 2 mavics and week later I had sun touring rims. As I said I can not go on enough about how good the bike and the company are.Rarely do you get the two combination right. 8)
  • i bought the sherpa frameset,,class frame.i also got sjs to build me the wheels,sun rhyno on xt hubs,schwalbe marathon plus tyres great wheels.sjs are brilliant to deal with they will answer any query you have ,i cant sing there prases highly enough.
    i got the gun metal colour( cool) best of luck .
  • They are not the prettiest bikes in the world though, are they?
  • Cunobelin
    Cunobelin Posts: 11,792
    I didn't want "pretty" - I wanted strong, robust, stable and indestructible!
    <b><i>He that buys land buys many stones.
    He that buys flesh buys many bones.
    He that buys eggs buys many shells,
    But he that buys good beer buys nothing else.</b></i>
    (Unattributed Trad.)
  • jibi
    jibi Posts: 857
    I ride the Thorn Raven Catalyst, pretty it ain't. but sure is robust.

    The geometry suits me perfectly


    george
  • Cunobelin
    Cunobelin Posts: 11,792
    jibi wrote:
    I ride the Thorn Raven Catalyst, pretty it ain't. but sure is robust.

    The geometry suits me perfectly


    george

    I looked at that one, and the new Sterling.

    Decided on the longer chain stays and greater weight capacity of the Nomad though.
    <b><i>He that buys land buys many stones.
    He that buys flesh buys many bones.
    He that buys eggs buys many shells,
    But he that buys good beer buys nothing else.</b></i>
    (Unattributed Trad.)
  • pneumatic
    pneumatic Posts: 1,989
    Whatever you get, big thumbs up for the Schwalbe marathon tyres. I've been on these all over Europe. Much more reliable and long lasting than anything else I've tried. I even have a "just in case" replacement pair hanging from the rafters in my garage against the day when the current pair fail. They've been up there for nearly 3 years!


    Fast and Bulbous
    Peregrinations
    Eddingtons: 80 (Metric); 60 (Imperial)

  • daviddd
    daviddd Posts: 637
    Big vote for the Thorn Raven Tour from me too - I'm hauling 25kg on 2" tyres and it's very stable - needs to be out here in Oz where you have to jump off the road occasionally onto pea gravel when road trains are around.
    The bike is not that pretty but VERY functional, and oozes confidence.
    Oct 2007 to Sep 2008 - anticlockwise lap of Australia... http://www.davidddinoz.blogspot.com/
    French Alps Tour 2006: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=r ... =1914&v=5R
    3 month tour of NZ 2015... http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/nz2014