Opinions on Thorn Sherpa?
Poppy
has opinions on the Thorn Sherpa or Thorn in general.
I'm addicted to my integrated hub wheel and thought the Thorn frame
was a good deal especially with the eccentric BB.
Even with the strength of the pound it seems like a good deal.
Does anyone import them? It looks like Harris used to, but they no
longer list them on their site. I'm looking for a tough commuter with
some comfort for longer rides.
Jon Shinefeld
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
An oblique response to your original question about Thorn: Have you seen
the Tout Terrain models that Peter White imports? I am intrigued with the
integrated build concepts that these models exhibit combined with being
easily able to spec all the bits and pieces at the time of purchase. The
Silkroad model would be on my short list.
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/tout-terrain.asp
Jon Shinefeld
Philadelphia, PA
David Estes
Poppy asks-
I'm still trying to decide on a new bike and I'm wondering if anybody
has opinions on the Thorn Sherpa or Thorn in general.
I'm addicted to my integrated hub wheel and thought the Thorn frame
was a good deal especially with the eccentric BB.
Even with the strength of the pound it seems like a good deal.
Does anyone import them? It looks like Harris used to, but they no
longer list them on their site. I'm looking for a tough commuter with
some comfort for longer rides.
--
David
Redlands, CA
Tim Smith
>I'm still trying to decide on a new bike and I'm wondering if anybody
>has opinions on the Thorn Sherpa or Thorn in general.
>
>I'm addicted to my integrated hub wheel and thought the Thorn frame
>was a good deal especially with the eccentric BB.
I have a Thorn eXXp (that has a Rohloff hub). It is I think the most
expensive Thorn, billed as their "expedition" touring bike. It is
certainly that. I have at least 2000 miles on mine, including a lot
of tracks/bad roads in New Zealand, and am quite happy with it.
I imported it as a complete bike directly from England to California,
last January. I was expecting to have to go up to the airport to the
customs office to pick it up, but as it turned out their shipper has
a deal with the US Postal Service, and a mail carrier showed up at
the front door with the package. I had to pay customs duties, but of
course the UK VAT is waived.
That said, the eccentric bottom bracket clamped in place by set
screws is something of a weak point, tho' I have not had any trouble
with mine so far. An eccentric BB is good in that it eliminates a
chain tensioner, but the eccentric on the Silkroad, which is clamped
by a split BB and bolts, might be a better design. The only issue
that I can see is whether this weakens the BB any. Andy Blance, the
Thorn designer, is a fanatic for ruggedness, and takes long tours on
bad roads (as in Tierra del Fuego) with his eXXp.
My Thorn is a well-designed and very rugged bike, it rides superbly,
and as I said I am very pleased with it overall. Thorn (or St John
Street cycles) were pleasant and easy to deal with, and shipped
promptly.
Steve Palincsar
> That said, the eccentric bottom bracket clamped in place by set
> screws is something of a weak point, tho' I have not had any trouble
> with mine so far. An eccentric BB is good in that it eliminates a
> chain tensioner, but the eccentric on the Silkroad, which is clamped
> by a split BB and bolts, might be a better design. The only issue
> that I can see is whether this weakens the BB any. Andy Blance, the
> Thorn designer, is a fanatic for ruggedness, and takes long tours on
> bad roads (as in Tierra del Fuego) with his eXXp.
>
Both designs have been used on tandems, and I've never heard of any
complaints about weakness of tandem bottom brackets on their account.
Here are a couple of messages Bill McCready of Santana Cycles posted on
the subject, from the archives of tandem@hobbes:
http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=tandem.9801.0699.eml
http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=tandem.9505.0812.eml
I'm sure there's plenty more to be found there as well.
pdamm
Being the proud owner of a Thorn Raven Tour I can say with a great
deal of bias that Thorn makes great bikes!
When I bought mine ~ 2 years ago they told me they have no dealers
anywhere. I had come across some people that imported frames then
built a bike up from there but they were not Thorn dealers. I live in
Australia and placed my order over the phone - they were a great help
sorting out all the things I wanted and I had no trouble with the
transaction. I would buy from them again in the same way if I wanted
another bike.
BTW the Sherpa model is a derailleur model. Other models come with
the internal geared hub.
http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/models.html
Peter
Poppy
wheelset. if I had more cash, and the dollar wasn't as weak as
domestic beer, I'd buy one of the Rohloff-equipped bad boys.
I'm mainly a long-commuter that likes a 40-50mile weekend ride and my
current steed is city-tough, but can be a real pan after 30 miles or
so.
Even with shipping and duty I figure the cost will be around $860 for
frame, fork, a great headset and a bottom bracket and I don't have to
do anything other than build it.
Thanks for the advice everybody!
Keith Ayres
That's interesting,
I've seen something on a British tandem website (can't remember
exactly where) which bemoaned detents created in BB eccentrics by
grubscrews. If hollow-point grubscrews fix that, then I can't think of
any other problem with them.
--
Keith Ayres
Oxfordshire, UK
Argos, Trevor Jarvis Flying Gate
Poppy
Colorful.
I'll use it the next time I'm yakking to my wife and drinking PGTips.
On Apr 3, 12:52 pm, "Keith Ayres" <keith.ay...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> - Show quoted text -
Keith Ayres
>
> I assume "grubscrews" is the UK equivalent of setscrews?
> Colorful.
> I'll use it the next time I'm yakking to my wife and drinking PGTips.
Technically, a grubscrew has no head at all, and is turned by a small
Allen wrench or screwdriver. Thus it can screw down below the surface
against an internal sliding object. IIRC, Thorn's eccentric BBs are
secured by hex-head set screws.