Hero Thunder Racer

[Rajat Agrawal]

Hi
After reading about the recent road bike trips, I really wanted to get a road bike for myself. I toyed with the idea of renting out Ravi's bike before buying one. However my trek purchase did not leave me with enough cash to buy a good road bike so I was looking for a cheaper alternative.
Looked at Hercules Mach 1, didn't like it (too heavy). I was really looking for a Hero Thunder Racer but most places I called said it was unavailable, finally found one at RR (its funny how sometimes you will look far and wide only to find it really close to your house).

- As expected, first looks were nothing extraordinary. The obviously noticeable items being the drop handlebars and clip-pedals. Its an all aluminum bike and overall looks good in an very bare metallurgical kind of way. The look varies from dull matte silver to clothes hanger shiny silver.
- Even with the mudguards and stand (or should i say attached lead brick) the cycle felt light (lighter than Mach 1).
- No QR, single pivot brakes, aluminum wheels with a very suspect looking joining point, steel spokes, 36 spokes front and back.
- cheap low-end shimano front and rear derailleurs, 5 speed rear sprocket set (not yet sure if its on a cassete or screw on) and 3 chain rings in the front
- even cheaper handlbar mounted single lever gear shifters (some saigun sh$%)
- Awkward and flimsy looking brake levers (yes they are awkward but functionally fine).
- The saddle is a plastic moulded affair with light foam. Angle and fore-aft adjustments possible. Seat tube is around 7" from minimum insertion mark and it still feels slightly cramped (I am around 5' 8") after raising it a futher 2" beyond. Haven't checked for the neutral knee position yet.
- Center-to-top seat tube length is slightly shy of 17". Seat tube top height from ground is around 28".

The price was 7.5k plus vat and I made a snap decision of picking it up. RR cycles' Shimano certified (for derailleur adjustment) bike mechanic went to work on it. My instructions were to get rid of the mud-guards and the stand, swap brake levers (left for front wheel), adjust the gears. I went and dropped my car at home and walked back reviewing the metro progress on CMH road and sipping fresh orange juice.

Needless to say the bike was really light after shedding the extra weight, it feels lighter than my trek 4300. The attitude of the bike also changed and looked more like a road bike. Also needless to say the gear "adjustment" made me wince, when the guy decided to give it the full service, all the clanking, jarring and pounding the parts underwent would have probably got a cycle hating ba#$%^ to shed a tear. Finally I rode it back home to spend 3 hours re-adjusting the derailleurs.

After adjusting the seat height, shifters, tightening the cranks and breaking the rear brake rivet screw, I went for a ride on inner ring road - domlur to kormangala - at around 3 am. Apart from noises in the drivetrain and very ineffective braking, the bike felt responsive, handling at speed felt good and the ride was lively. Frame felt fairly rigid and after my first bump and pothole I did not feel as apprehensive about the wheels and frame. It still felt cramped but I am not used to riding a road bike. Also all this is based only on this bike, I am sure it will change after I rent out Ravi's Merida roadbike.

Took it to office and back, the gears seem to have settled down and shifting is okay. I was able to maintain slightly higher speeds but the 5 speed is a definite limitation. Wheels have lost their true and there is slight wobbling at low speeds (will have to probably get them replaced with a stronger set or get them trued and try avoiding bumps and potholes).

So far thats the deal...
Attached a pic (its really bad quality).

-Rajat

[Rushi Bhatt]

I couldn't get if you're happy or sad with your bike.

But I like the wheels. Bigger in front and smaller in rear. It's like
a 69'er. Is that a feature or a bug? The frame shape is also more like
an MTB. Interesting bike. It's like two halves of different bikes
joined in the middle.

[Balu]

Couldnt help noticing the seat angle - dont you slide off the seat at
that position?

Balu

>  IMG0058A.jpg
> 48KViewDownload

[Mayank Rungta]

Hi,

I had been to RR near ulsoor to check out the Thunder Racer & MTB. Another bike that caught my interest was La Sovereign Navigator - a road bike for 10K with a straight handle bar. It was a little heavier than Thudner Racer. It has a dynamo powered light and makes a decent bike for city commute with the mud guards. I wish they wud allow test ride on the two since my knowledge of the parts is pretty limited (that shall change). Dunno how they shall feel as I have only tried the really neat road bikes so far - Saurabh's fuji and Venky's Colnago! I had a short tryst with a  hero hawk I think - felt pretty light.

Will go shopping soon. Let me know if anybody has anything to say about La Sovereign Navigator compared to the Thunder Racer.

-- 
Happy Festivities,
Mynk

http://ngopost.org/story.php?title=Happy_Diwali_IS_IT

 o__
 _> /__
(_) \(_)... Cycle along to a healthier life and cleaner world! :)

Rajat Agrawal wrote:

---

[Murali Krishna]

I have used Hero Hawk for over 6 years, and its a decent road bike..pretty light and robust.. used to cycle to work way back during 2000 - 2003 time frame very regularly.. then used it on and off for another 3 years... had no complaints ever..  and my bro is still using it for short distance rides...

I am not sure if it comes with gears now, but back then we had to get the gears fitted additionally...

- Murali

[Subhash]

hey rushi,
I think thats just due to the camera's angle, common man the do have
Scales in HERO :) dont you think ?

On Oct 10, 12:50 pm, "Rushi Bhatt" <rushib...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I couldn't get if you're happy or sad with your bike.
>
> But I like the wheels. Bigger in front and smaller in rear. It's like
> a 69'er. Is that a feature or a bug? The frame shape is also more like
> an MTB. Interesting bike. It's like two halves of different bikes
> joined in the middle.
>

[Rajat Agrawal]

I couldn't get if you're happy or sad with your bike.

 

<RA> Heh! heh! I was being stoic with my evaluation. Going by the maxim "Good no cheap, cheap no good" I never expected the ride to be great. Its a work in progress, I plan to change the shifters and derailleurs to something better and also change it to a 6/7/9 speed (whichever I can manage). I also plan to change the brakes and the rear seat and seat tube. If I can get a sturdier pair of wheels at a reasonable rate then I plan to change those as well. After each change I hope to judge if it is getting better or worse... and either continue or sell it off and by a better road bike, hopefully by then I will have enough cash to splurge and would have learnt more about bike mechanics and the kind of road frome that would suit me.

But I like the wheels. Bigger in front and smaller in rear. It's like
a 69'er. Is that a feature or a bug? The frame shape is also more like
an MTB. Interesting bike. It's like two halves of  different bikes
joined in the middle.

<RA>  The wheels are the same size, the bike is leaning away from the wall towards the back

[Rajat Agrawal]

On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 2:00 PM, Balu <balu.ra...@gmail.com> wrote:

Couldnt help noticing the seat angle - dont you slide off the seat at
that position?

<RA> Not really, since I have to lean forward my weight gets distributed between the handlebar and the seat, also I am not sitting upright on the seat and some of my weight is supported by my legs... on the other hand if it was level then my family jewels would take a real beating.

[Ravi Ranjan]

I guess it is based on "How god has constructed you" ... (Just trying to not oprn my mouth too wide here :-)   )

~ Ravi

 

[Rajat Agrawal]

Found this on bikeszone: http://bikeszone.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1335

[Mayank Rungta]

Rajat Agrawal wrote:
> Found this on bikeszone:
> http://bikeszone.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1335

> <http://bikeszone.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1335>
>
Thanks that was very helpful! :)) I know what to recommend to people
with a limited budget hopefully... Thunder MTB and racer work out most
suitable for most in city commute I guess... :)

[Rohan Kini]

yeah .. the seat looks like its sloping too much.

Hey Rajat, I would recommend constant monitoring of your palms and wrist the next few weeks to make sure they dont get too numb. With angles like that on the saddle, your wrists are bound to get more pressure.

[Rushi Bhatt]

One word: Velcro!

Sorry, it's Friday night in a crashing market.

Rushi

[Rajat Agrawal]

Its been around 8 months since I have had the Thunder Racer (TR) and I feel compelled to tell our story so far...

My enthusiasm for the TR died within a month of purchase since I did not find the time and motivation to go about fixing the problems I had identified:
- Seat height too low and seat tube length too small to raise it safely
- Non existent braking with one brake out of order due to a broken rivet
- Bad pedals
- Weak wheel that went slightly out of true after the first couple of rides.

Hmm... not looking good, tell me about it. I felt like a fool having spent the dough and seeing the bike lying around unused. To add insult to injury it got so bad that I had to borrow a friends bike when wifey wanted to go for a spin.

After about 5 months true to my nature I got a second bout of guilt induced motivation and made the following changes:
- Fixed the brake rivet and change brake pads to longer ones (improved braking)
- Got rid of the original brakes, rotated the handlebar so that the ends were facing outwards and slapped on some regular brakes.
- Also got rid of the clips on the original pedals
- Raised seat tube to waaay above minimum insertion mark

Can't explain any better but it looked FUNKY!! and gave an upright ride. And that was how it was for sometime.
Then came Duathlon and changed EVERYTHING. I believe its the best thing that happened to us (me and my TR)

Since the wife was racing as well the Trek 4300 was her ride, and I knew that I had to use a road bike to get any kind of meaningful result. Like all good movies life became murkier before it got better.
Until 2 weeks before D-day I thought of buying a proper road bike, until 1 week before D-day I thought I would beg and borrow someones road bike, until 3 days before I desperately made calls to find out how much a Hero Hawk Nu-Age or BSA Mach with gears would cost.

2 days before the race as I eyed my TR, numb and beyond desperation, it spoke to me...
"No more charades, I am the one, lets go!!"

In a frenzy I rotated the handlebar back to its drop position, restored the original brakes sans the suicide levers.
After some thought I moved the thumb shifters to the sides just above the brakes... even though its not the easiest to shift, the ride became so much more integrated obviating the need to take hands of the drop bar to shift. Its like a poor man's version of shifter integrated brakes without the integration (whatever...). Can't believe its not placed like so from the beginning.

Decided to use clipless for the race and swapped out the MTB clipless pedals from the Trek with platforms and put them on the TR.

To fix the seat height I took it to New Perfect Cycle on Kammanahalli main road (enroute to office). Found a long steel seat tube but the closest circumferences were a bit too large and a bit too small. The mechanic took the slimmer tube made a 'jugaad' (improvisation) of inserting a metal peice to make up for the difference and after a bit of hammering (yes hammering) to get the right height bolted the whole thing down. The legs felt less cramped and for the first time I got a feel of the road bike riding position. Rode to office and back feeling like the hunchback of notre dame.

The next problem to fix was the damn saddle... I had moved it to a horizontal position long ago (I humbly take back all my previous arguments for the jaunty angle), the problem with the original seat is that the base is too soft and the nose is hard leading to butt sinking and bruising on the inner thighs in that one ride to office and back... With not enough time to buy a new saddle I bought a pair of mircofoam full size shoe inserts (i have been using them in my trekking boots because of a long term ankle injury, imo they are really good), and cut them to shape and stuck them on top of my seat.

The TR proved its worth in the Duathlon and did not let me down.

About the wheels... I take back my initial comment on them being weak, they are not weak, I think the initial damage was due to my potholing them with not enough air pressure in the tire. Inflated hard they have withstood some serious abuse and clumsy bunny-hopping.

Since the Duathlon I have changed two more things, I picked up a proper sized alloy seat tube and put a QR clamp on the seat tube instead of the nut and bolt.

Net additional expense on the TR so far - Rs.1200 and I now feel confident in doing century rides on it.
I am now using it for office commute and have completed a couple of 60+km rides.

Today morning I did a 41 km route (IRR -> Sarjapur -> Varthur Lake -> Airport Rd) and averaged 26 kmph start to finish (no breaks), my best ever :)

-Rajat

[Rohan Kini]

interesting read.
How much did you spend on the bike in total ?

you should take a ride on Ullas's Firefox 2200 and Vikrams Firefox 0050.
I am not a big fan of Firefox bicycles - but I do believe the road bikes might be 'much' better than the Hero TR. (have never used the Thunder racer, only the Hero Thunder) and the 0050 might actually be close to the TR in cost.

Vikram, Rajat - you guys racing this Sunday right ? If you dont mind, I would like to ride both the bikes.

[Vishy]

Good alter bro. Hope your bike problems have reduced.
Have fun riding your 'new' bike.

Cheers!!

[Rajat Agrawal]

On Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 10:30 AM, Rohan Kini <rohan...@gmail.com> wrote:

interesting read.
How much did you spend on the bike in total ?

7.8 + 1.2 ~ 9k so far

you should take a ride on Ullas's Firefox 2200 and Vikrams Firefox 0050.
I am not a big fan of Firefox bicycles - but I do believe the road bikes might be 'much' better than the Hero TR. (have never used the Thunder racer, only the Hero Thunder) and the 0050 might actually be close to the TR in cost.

Don't get me wrong, I am not even trying to compare the TR with a bonafide road bike. The TR makes all sorts of noises and the shifting is anything but smooth. I am sure the Firefox bikes are better off. Price wise the 0050 is around 15k, no comparison there ;)

Vikram, Rajat - you guys racing this Sunday right ? If you dont mind, I would like to ride both the bikes.

I am... you are most welcome as long as I get to sample your 1.5 ;)

BTW this week I felt up the LA Sovereign Urbano 16 speed. It looks real nice. They are planning to release the parent company's (LA Bicycle) 20 spd Urbano with 105 drivetrain and Tiagra brakes sometime soon. Tentatively at around 35k I am thinking it might be good.

I am going to wait till Decathalon introduces its road bikes and then take a call.
 

[Yogesh N. Rao]

Hi Rajat and others,

I am still a fan of Hero despite the problems its thrown at me. To me
bicycles are mechanical devices and all mechanical devices fail
sometime or the other. After-sales-service matters a lot to me.

I have been Madras Cycles Shop's worst night-mare customer, so much so
that the owner, Shashidhar recognizes me by my voice! I have no qualms
about taking the cycle back to them for any/all problems and insist on
their living up to their promise of "I will take care of your cycle
problems for one year". They have lived up to their promise so far.
Their service guy is perhaps not as good as Lalu of Raja Cycles I have
not yet met Lalu, but his reputation precedes him). He has however
fixed at least one very complex problem with the free-wheel

For their part, Mr.Ashok Arora who responds to sa...@herocycles.com
has been very prompt at responding to my emails and replacing a broken
Shimano rear free-wheel for free. So guys, please try your retailer,
if that does not work please email sa...@herocycles.com when you have
a problem with your Hero cycle.

Thanks,
Yogesh.

[Rajat Agrawal]

Good info Yogesh, I am sure it will help the hapless ones struggling with their bike's day in day out problems.

Btw... The problems I have pointed out in my reviews are not really problems from the manufacturing point of view. They are more like limitations and the yardstick I applied to the TR was "ability to provide enough confidence to do a century ride on it". Of course its a biased and completely personal criteria.

Also Yogesh mail reminded me to put in an important point - all the alterations I have made have voided any warranty on the bke.

-Rajat

[Rohan Kini]

yup .. sure . your wlcom to ride the 1.5.

no .. i was just trying to figure out if there is an 'entry' level road bike which enthusiasts could ride - spending 50K on a cycle is a bit too much for folks who want to have an ok road bicycle experience.

[Rohan Kini]

right ..and this is where quality keep the time-between-falling-apart window pretty big.  :)

Hero is not bad at all .. I have used the Hero Thunder for over a year of commute and its been a decent experience.
 

On Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 11:14 AM, Yogesh N. Rao <yna...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Pankaj C]

Hi Rajat,

Exactly the topic I wanted to discuss. Even I am looking to get a road
bike after riding my MTB (Rockrider 5.1) for around 1000 km.
Was seriously looking at TR as an add on or an Urbano (MTB has to go).
I had a look at both of them and when TR did not look even decent,
Urbano was a very small frame.
Got to know from a Urbano owner that it comes only in that size as of
now.
Looking at all the adjustments/alterations you have made to make the
TR ride worthy I think I will wait for some more time and get a Urbano/
Firefox/Decathlon.
But still I will like to test ride your bike on Sunday race if you do
not mind.
I have enquired Decathlon and they told me that Btwin Sports series
road bikes are expected to arrive by August. Provided they price it
competetively to Urbano and Firefox it would be a better bet than the
other two.

Cheers
Pankaj

On Jun 26, 10:12 am, Rajat Agrawal <rajatagra...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Rajat Agrawal]

Ur welcome to try it out...
What is your height though?
Cause its a 16"-16.5" frame and even with the raised seat anyone taller than 5' 8" will have a hard time on it.

@Rohan - realized it later that you are probably too tall to actually figure out much in the TR. You will understand when you try it out.

Kishan Bhat (sorry if I got your name wrong) had come around to try the TR, he is 6' 1" and his legs were almost hitting the handles (when they were upturned). I advised him against the TR and he went on to pick up a 20" 7100.

-Rajat

[Rohan Kini]

Pankaj, the sport series are expected end of the year :) Not Aug

On Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 2:35 PM, Pankaj C <pankaj.c...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Pradeep B V]

On Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 11:38 AM, Rajat Agrawal <rajata...@gmail.com> wrote:

They are more like limitations and the yardstick I applied to the TR was "ability to provide enough confidence to do a century ride on it". Of course its a biased and completely personal criteria.

Let me add my own biased and personal view here.

I have done two century rides (one to Mysore during Dasara last year and one to Hosur and back last weekend) on my Hero Hawk Nu-Age with Lalu fitted 6 speed starlit gears. It cost me 3,050 + 650 = 3700/- in all when I bought is last June. 

Its been a good experience for me on this. Yes the breaks are crappy and so are the factory fitted pedals. But Lalu can work magic make things work well. :-)

- P