26" Wheel Touring Frame (only): can Thorn be beaten?

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drjones

26" Wheel Touring Frame (only): can Thorn be beaten?

Postby drjones » 16 Jan 2009, 11:22am

Just to confirm... are there any 26" wheel touring frames on the market that're better value than the Thorn Sherpa Frame, @ £399 inc. seatpost and headset...?

The 54cm LHT (the largest 26" model Surly make) would be too small for me, and I think I'm correct in saying the touring frames by Hewwitt, Byer, Dawes etc all take 700c wheels.

Comments and sarcasm warmly invited.

pigman
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Postby pigman » 16 Jan 2009, 11:47am

some on here. good frame builder. ive had his frames for 20yrs plus.

http://www.vernonbarkercycles.co.uk/com ... 0bikes.htm

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Si
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Postby Si » 16 Jan 2009, 11:54am

Just to confirm... are there any 26" wheel touring frames on the market that're better value than the Thorn Sherpa Frame, @ £399 inc. seatpost and headset...?


Dawes OneDown: approx £150 inc fork but not seat pin or HS.

I'm delighted with mine...did consider the Sherpa- it's a nice frame -but I couldn't see what major advantage the extra £250 would buy me.

Richard
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Postby Richard » 16 Jan 2009, 12:27pm

I think Hewitts will do a 26" frame if required.

hamster
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Postby hamster » 16 Jan 2009, 2:52pm

The Hewitt Cheviot comes in a 26" version too.

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meic
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Postby meic » 16 Jan 2009, 3:13pm

A friend is pleased with the new One-on-one that he just got from the Doncaster based company.
Yma o Hyd

drjones

Postby drjones » 16 Jan 2009, 3:27pm

Oh right, this is all good news.

The Vernon Barker 'Reynolds 631 Heavy duty Tourer (26" Mountain bike wheels) says that "...this frame is designed to accept mountain bike wheels and is suitable for very heavy duty touring on up to 38mm tyres..." so I shall have to contact them to confirm if that is indeed the max. width. I run 26" x 2.0" tyres. Otherwise, it looks very suitable at £350, and has Reynolds 631 rather than the Thorn Sherpa's 4130 Cro-Mo, so perhaps there's less of a weight penalty there.

Thanks for telling me about the Dawes, I'll look into this further.

I didn't realise the Hewitt Cheviot comes in a 26" version too. Poor research on my behalf. I shall contact them for information on geometry.

Thanks for the info so far; any further input appreciated.

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deliquium
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Postby deliquium » 16 Jan 2009, 3:42pm

I think you will find that the Hewitt, Vernon Barker and Byer Cycles 26" wheel 631 frames are all the same as imported by a company called Autostrada Engineering Ltd. near Birmingham. I believe they also supply direct and will enamel your colour choice. The Dawes as mentioned by Si from The Bike Shed looks good value too.

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georgew
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Postby georgew » 16 Jan 2009, 4:09pm

The advantage of the Thorn Sherpa frame is that it comes in various top tube lengths. The frame is ideal for the smaller person and it should be kept in mind that Thorn can supply shorter cranks also.

drjones

Postby drjones » 16 Jan 2009, 4:31pm

Very dry!

Had to chuckle. :)

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fenderbender
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Postby fenderbender » 16 Jan 2009, 4:41pm

The Hewitt Cheviot 26" was one of the candidate's for the "Touringbike Of the Year -06" in Cycling Plus:
http://www.hewittbikefitting.co.uk/uplo ... e-year.pdf
They don't show up on their site so give them a call:
http://www.hewittbikefitting.co.uk/inde ... age=hewitt
http://www.byercycles.co.uk/index.htm

Bikefix sell Vsf Fahrradmanufaktur T400 26" complete. You could check if it's available as frameset:
http://www.bikefix.co.uk/index.php?uniq ... _id=13#a13
http://www.fahrradmanufaktur.de/T400_Sh ... g_111.html

Surly Long Haul Trucker is good value and in my view better looking. 42-54cm accommodate 26" wheels:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/Surly ... 360015706/
http://www.surlybikes.com/longhaul.html
A furore normannorum libera nos domine!

rogerzilla
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Postby rogerzilla » 16 Jan 2009, 6:47pm

What's the steering geometry of the Thorn? They used to have too much fork offset for the head angle IMO; the design may have improved.

drjones

Postby drjones » 16 Jan 2009, 7:00pm

Thanks again for further info; what a wealth of information...

I've looked at the Sherpa brochure on the Thorn site (PDF: http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/thornpdf/T ... oLoRes.pdf) but there's no information on HT angles or fork lengths/rakes. Shame.

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Kevin K
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Postby Kevin K » 16 Jan 2009, 7:07pm

drjones wrote:I've looked at the Sherpa brochure on the Thorn site (PDF: http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/thornpdf/T ... oLoRes.pdf) but there's no information on HT angles or fork lengths/rakes. Shame.
Why don't you ask them? They've always been very happy to answer my enquiries promptly and efficiently.
Kevin (very happy Thorn Sherpa owner)

rogerzilla
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Postby rogerzilla » 16 Jan 2009, 9:54pm

According to the not-always-reliable BikeRadar,

Head angle 70.5 deg
Offset 52mm

That was for a size 560S.

That's a lot of fork offset; my best-handling bike, a 1950s relic, has (I think) 71 deg head and 47mm offset on 700c wheels - smaller wheels reduce trail, everything else being equal. Racing bikes are generally 73 deg head and 43mm offset.

Take advantage of their money-back trial period and see how you find it; the steering on my old Nomad used to oscillate sideways when pedalling, and getting out of the saddle (after riding a bike with more trail) meant it made a lunge for the white line or the ditch if I wasn't expecting it. On the upside, it was an easy bike to wiggle around potholes.