Three weeks have passed since my visit to Thorn and many late night thoughts followed . Then a visit to Woodrup to finally try and sort out my dilemma .
I could not fault my visit to Thorn very friendly excellent advise , a great test ride. The bike (New Thorn Raven ) behaves well, comfortable absolutely no complaints. I thought the setup at Thorn was fantastic and felt comfortable if I had purchased the bike .
The only fault was me , I felt at 6'1" the bike looked small or was it the wheels ?? The choice of the frames is more limited .
Anyway I ended up at Leeds and a visit to Woodrup's a smaller setup and hand built frames made to order to exact size required , the test ride was helped by Vernon being on hand with his bike (and pies) which was a better fit for me and which he kindly let me use.
In the end I was happy with both shops , Woodrup's won the day on total personal build and my decision to go belt drive and 700c wheels .
I thank everyone who posted comments to my threads all helpful and set up a debate at times .
My Decisions that took the longest to sort in order :
Wheel size(700)
Belt/chain (belt)
Dynamo(yes)
Rear light (yes I think)
Tube 725 or 853 (725 yes for now , how would I know)
Tyres supreme/dureme (schwalbe supreme 35mm )
Some choices are easily changed later others not ....
Have I picked the right Frame size ? That was suddenly a difficult decision when you have a choice .
Oh and dear me I still have the colour to pick!?!?!? It was Orange up till 6pm and then I still like Vernons bike .
Now the bad bit .......the wait for delivery , I just hope Kevin ( frame builder) gets a few half shifts and the odd weekend in over the next couple of months :-)
I'm one of those people that take weeks to make up my mind then wants delivery the next day .. I'm not alone? Am I ??