Should I upgrade my tourer?

[Pale Rider]

Our tourers are setup so that I can cycle uphill at less than 4 kph not mph on a laden touring bike. Any slower and I find balance an issue!

As you say, any lower and it's hard to keep the bike upright.

I spoke to an experienced touring cyclist who said he often prefers to push the bike when it becomes quicker to do so.

Lots of gear charts on the living with a Rohloff section of the Thorn website.

http://www.sjscycles.com/thornpdf/ThornLivingWithARohloff_LoRes.pdf

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

As you say, any lower and it's hard to keep the bike upright.

I spoke to an experienced touring cyclist who said he often prefers to push the bike when it becomes quicker to do so.

Lots of gear charts on the living with a Rohloff section of the Thorn website.

http://www.sjscycles.com/thornpdf/ThornLivingWithARohloff_LoRes.pdf

I'm not physically strong enough to push my bike up steep hills easily - and it is much easier to continue to cycle uphill than push a bike uphill... I have found 38/17 to be a really good combination for the UK (2 panniers & rackpack)... that gets me up 16-17% gradients and first thing in the morning I can handle the odd short section of 20%... anything else I have to push - as we did recently over the Wrynose and Hardknott passes - though the rest of the tour was fine. Abroad (4 panniers & rack pack) I have not had to push my bike up anything (yet) and have covered plenty of KM's on it in mountainous countries... in fact my Rohloff hub is now considered to be 'just broken in' by Rohloff having covered over 11,000 miles...

 

[Erudin]

.....Spa Cycles? I prefer to stick with 26" wheels for strength and the ability to run on wide, cushioning tyres (part of the reasoning to upgrade from my Karakum).
Titanium? Again, the argument for a strong, long lasting bike made from steel is one of the attractions here......

The small size of the Spa bikes have 26" wheels (approx. 5'3" - 5'8").

If you want steel look at Long Haul Truckers. My 26" tourer is a Surly LHT, the frames & forks are good value (<£300), and you could swap the parts over from the Dawes, complete bikes are around £1000.

With Thorn you get great service and advice (I have a Thorn Audax). With good communication they will help to get the fit spot-on, and sort out any problems. Their money back guarantees if you are not happy are hard to beat.

Thorn Forum Link: Full Metal (Steel is Real) Sherpa

 

[Yorksman]

If its the Rohloff that you want, have a look at this Radon/Rohloff package:

 

[Pale Rider]

If its the Rohloff that you want, have a look at this Radon/Rohloff package:

Or something sturdy enough to invade Poland on from Herr Rose:

http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/bike/rose-black-water-3-trekking-men-2014/aid:691313

 

[MacB]

How tall are you?

 

[Geoff Crowther]

How tall are you?

Hey ... that's a bit personal!
About 5' 9"
Can't wait to hear why you're asking.

 

[Geoff Crowther]

Or something sturdy enough to invade Poland on from Herr Rose:

http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/bike/rose-black-water-3-trekking-men-2014/aid:691313

Yeah, looks nice but again, 700c and not really an exped bike. also, I'm starting to get a warm feeling about buying British (and yes, I know Thorn frames are made in Taiwan).

 

[Geoff Crowther]

If its the Rohloff that you want, have a look at this Radon/Rohloff package:

Thanks for that, but again 700c wheels. Prefer the idea of 26".

 

[MacB]

Hey ... that's a bit personal!
About 5' 9"
Can't wait to hear why you're asking.

I could have offered something spot on for your needs but it would be way too big

 

[Geoff Crowther]

I could have offered something spot on for your needs but it would be way too big

Oh well, thanks for thinking of that.
Cheers

 

[Bikerta]

I have a Thorn Sherpa and have just completed my JOGLE on it. I covered 1170 miles and a lot of those miles were on canal paths and forestry tracks such as the Great Glen Way. I could not have asked for a better bike for the trip. I camped all the way so was carrying 20kg+ of luggage and the bike handled it brilliantly. I am running on 2.0 Marathon Duremes and these were great both on and off road and I did not have a single puncture throughout the trip. I would have liked to buy a Raven with the Rohloff gearing but could not stretch to the cost, but I have not been disappointed in any way with the Sherpa. Loaded the bike is very stable, more so than the Dawes Galaxy I used for a previous short trip. Unloaded, the bike is faster than I expected but of course cannot compare with a road bike. Putting 1.6 marathon supremes on the bike would make a huge difference to the speed of the bike.

I can thoroughly recommend a trip down to SJS Cycles, where you will be accurately measured and of course you can take a test ride (on a Thorn Raven rather than the Sherpa as they don't test ride derailleur bikes or of course on the Nomad - love the yellow one!) Don't forget their full money back guarantee as well.

 

[Profpointy]

I have the old Nomad - ie 26" wheeled full on tourer in 725 tubing but deraileuer rather than the Rohloff. Nice to ride and rock solid, albeit a bit heavy - whilst I might have toured and did go off road, I was unlikely to tour off road. I did ride it on some pretty stupid stuff off road - the kind of thing you stop afterwards to check the bike's Ok and it just totally took it - wheel still true etc. That said, I should really have bought their no-longer-available xtx - still 26 derailleur, which would go off road a bit and on-road tour but a good bit lighter.

The sherpa seems pretty similar to my Nomad.

I'd give it a guarded recommendation, especially for touring or if you want to do fairly mountain bikey tracks with luggage

If doing milder tracks such as farm lanes / forestry tracks and the like I'd at least look at something a bit lighter.

Rohloff is tempting, but I'd be a bit worried about the transmission losses - Thorn's propaganda seems to be downplaying the losses a bit when every extra % means more huffing and puffing and real effort. But still, you can't argue with the gear range and supposed lack of faff. Had a brief go on one, but not enough to be convinced either way but if anything, it felt a bit odd.

Regarding wheels - the Sun CR18 in 26" I've got have very robust indeed on some quite stupid ravine type stuff - and these are on the light end of Thorn's range - so I'd not go.mad on expedition wheels.unless you really are cycling to Timbuktu.

whatever you get, consider.fitting cross.stop (ie extra) brake levers as if doing serious off road downhill it's a lot easier to brake from these rather than having your hands on drop bar hoods. I guess I should add I'm utterly unconvinced by Thorn's encouragement of flat bars - whether Rolhoff or deraileurs.

I should add that a lady in the local CTC has a thorn 26" rohloff drop bar tourer and is delighted with it and she does huge touring mileages

So a guarded recommendation, but only buy as heavy as you need

 

[Geoff Crowther]

I have a Thorn Sherpa and have just completed my JOGLE on it. I covered 1170 miles and a lot of those miles were on canal paths and forestry tracks such as the Great Glen Way. I could not have asked for a better bike for the trip. I camped all the way so was carrying 20kg+ of luggage and the bike handled it brilliantly. I am running on 2.0 Marathon Duremes and these were great both on and off road and I did not have a single puncture throughout the trip. I would have liked to buy a Raven with the Rohloff gearing but could not stretch to the cost, but I have not been disappointed in any way with the Sherpa. Loaded the bike is very stable, more so than the Dawes Galaxy I used for a previous short trip. Unloaded, the bike is faster than I expected but of course cannot compare with a road bike. Putting 1.6 marathon supremes on the bike would make a huge difference to the speed of the bike.

I can thoroughly recommend a trip down to SJS Cycles, where you will be accurately measured and of course you can take a test ride (on a Thorn Raven rather than the Sherpa as they don't test ride derailleur bikes or of course on the Nomad - love the yellow one!) Don't forget their full money back guarantee as well.

Thanks very much for your reply Bikerta. I spotted you whilst browsing Thorn's forum.
I'm going to look at someone's Nomad on Monday and have made an appointment with Thorn for next Weds afternoon. So, I've made the decision to buy. It's likely to be a Sherpa since, like you, I can't really justify the extra expense but, who knows.
A couple of questions if I may.
Are those tyres similar to the Marathon Supreme which Thorn currently list as an option? They don't mention the Dureme.
Are your bar grips the Ergon GP5L? How are you finding them?
Which bars do you have? The choice is a little bewildering but I do want "straight" bars I think.
What's that stand thingy? How does it work? I read somewhere that Thorn say use of a kickstand invalidates the warranty. I presently have a two legged stand but when you use it, loaded, the front wheel turns around the steering head; madly annoying.
I too have an ambition to do LEJOG as a camping trip; one of the reasons for heading towards a Thorn.
Your bike looks really nice. If I buy a Sherpa it'll definitely be red cos, as they say, red ones ARE fastest. I know ... my motorbike's red!
Again, many thanks for your reply.
Geoff

 

[Geoff Crowther]

I have the old Nomad - ie 26" wheeled full on tourer in 725 tubing but deraileuer rather than the Rohloff. Nice to ride and rock solid, albeit a bit heavy - whilst I might have toured and did go off road, I was unlikely to tour off road. I did ride it on some pretty stupid stuff off road - the kind of thing you stop afterwards to check the bike's Ok and it just totally took it - wheel still true etc. That said, I should really have bought their no-longer-available xtx - still 26 derailleur, which would go off road a bit and on-road tour but a good bit lighter.

The sherpa seems pretty similar to my Nomad.

I'd give it a guarded recommendation, especially for touring or if you want to do fairly mountain bikey tracks with luggage

If doing milder tracks such as farm lanes / forestry tracks and the like I'd at least look at something a bit lighter.

Rohloff is tempting, but I'd be a bit worried about the transmission losses - Thorn's propaganda seems to be downplaying the losses a bit when every extra % means more huffing and puffing and real effort. But still, you can't argue with the gear range and supposed lack of faff. Had a brief go on one, but not enough to be convinced either way but if anything, it felt a bit odd.

Regarding wheels - the Sun CR18 in 26" I've got have very robust indeed on some quite stupid ravine type stuff - and these are on the light end of Thorn's range - so I'd not go.mad on expedition wheels.unless you really are cycling to Timbuktu.

whatever you get, consider.fitting cross.stop (ie extra) brake levers as if doing serious off road downhill it's a lot easier to brake from these rather than having your hands on drop bar hoods. I guess I should add I'm utterly unconvinced by Thorn's encouragement of flat bars - whether Rolhoff or deraileurs.

I should add that a lady in the local CTC has a thorn 26" rohloff drop bar tourer and is delighted with it and she does huge touring mileages

So a guarded recommendation, but only buy as heavy as you need

Thanks for taking the trouble to reply Prof. I appreciate your considered comments.
I'm still considering either the Sherpa (most likely) or Nomad cos I don't want to keep coming across stuff which'll thwart me an' the bike's progress. I've travelled lots by foot, car, motorhome and motorcycle and, more recently, bicycle and can't fault Ted Simon's maxim, " ... travel far, not fast". So I'm more interested in ruggedness and longevity than speed.

I am, however, convinced by flat bars. But hey, it's a free world and I'm guessing you've been cycling on drops longer than me (only a few months with a road bike).

At the moment, as I've said, I'm erring towards derailleur, mainly due to cost but also cos I'm beginning to understand how they work and feeling more confident with working on them. My MTB and road bike have 'em so there's an element of consistency too. Plus, as you suggest, I'm not off to Timbuktu (I'd like to but circumstances don't really allow).

Once again, many thanks for your useful and well-considered comments.
Cheers
Geoff