Thorn Ravens

Hello, I have a late model Nomad and very nice it is too. I can certainly
recommend a Thorn bike as I have owned two.
Pictures as the link below.
John.

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http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/1170117
"Peter Amey" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Related to the subjects of (a) new bikes and (b) tax free company
purchases, both of which have featured recently, does anyone have personal
experience of the Thorn Raven Tour and lightweight version thereof?

I am thinking of getting a fast day tourer and rather like the look of the
Rholoff-equipped Raven.

Peter
--

www.amey.org.uk

--
Paul Moss
(Remove junk to reply)
"Peter Amey" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Related to the subjects of (a) new bikes and (b) tax free company
purchases, both of which have featured recently, does anyone have
personal experience of the Thorn Raven Tour and lightweight version

thereof?

Quoted message said:

I am thinking of getting a fast day tourer and rather like the look of
the Rholoff-equipped Raven.

Peter

Envy envy envy. I would love one.
There doesn't seem to be much info around on the 'sport'.

I have had the Raven Adventure Tour (since May 04).
Someone had a ride on it a while back and then he visited SJSC to ride a
'sport'. This is an extract from what he said (three weeks ago).

I visited Thorn last week. They had just one Sport Tour there - 'Robin's'
(probably the boss). It was fun to ride, though it did not seem to me to be
all that much lighter than the Adventure Tour, or that much livelier.

.. They have changed the design a bit (eg shorter wheelbase) since producing
the first (and so far, only) batch, and are currently awaiting a sample
frame made to the new design from Taiwan. They do not expect to have any
for sale before May. I expect I will go down again when the sample is ready
for trying out.

.. but I have never seen a review of the Sport. It is occasionally mentioned
by owners of them in discussion forums - always with joy.

....
....
This is what I wrote a few months ago.

I would have liked the 'Sport' but I already owned a Dawes Audax which was
only six years old. I have ridden Dawes on three and four-day tours with
pannier rack, two rear panniers, saddlebag and bar bag but only on UK
tarmac. ie not enormous loads such as camping/cooking gear.

The Raven 'Sport' would have been a very similar specification except for
the flat handlebars and I couldn't justify 'wasting' the cash by buying
another similar bike.

As the new bike was to be used for commuting, shopping and hopefully touring
(in a few years time) I went for the heavier model 'Adventure' but paid
extra to have the carbon forks.

What I particularly like about the Raven is that you can go fast and then
slam on the brakes and never need to worry about what gear the bike is in,
as a quick twist of the twist grip means you're ready to move off. The
lowest gears will get me up the side of a cliff and the top gear is good for
30-35 mph. Any faster and I will be freewheeling, not pedalling.
I don't think it's particularly noisy. What noise there is is mainly in gear
seven and usually I'm in some other gear anyway (and I've heard more noise
fron the frehubs on some derailleur bikes). Most of the time it's silent.

If I were to only have the one bike then it would have been the 'Sport'.

The question I can't answer is; is it worth the money?

I could have got four or five of the hybrids I used to ride or two £650
bikes for what I paid so I don't think it could be easily justified
economically.

Until I saw the Raven I was going to buy an Orbit Orion City Seven
http://www.orbit-cycles.co.uk/orion3.shtml with the SRAM seven speed hub
which is £700 with Shimano dynamo lighting and a pannier rack.

I justify it to myself on the grounds that "other men of my age buy sports
cars or big motorbikes" and "why shouldn't I own something nice".

I paid for various extras such as leather saddle, comfort bars, alloy
chainwheel, dynohub lighting, Deore brakes and carbon forks but I think some
of that may be standard on the sport model.

Paul.
(remove junk to reply).

Peter Amey said:

Related to the subjects of (a) new bikes and (b) tax free company
purchases, both of which have featured recently, does anyone have
personal experience of the Thorn Raven Tour and lightweight version
thereof?

I am thinking of getting a fast day tourer and rather like the look of
the Rholoff-equipped Raven.

Make sure you take advantage of a test ride. I've had my Nomad for 5
years and I still think the handling is stodgy - my racing bike is so
much nicer in corners. It must be something to do with the head angle
or the rake of the forks, because the steering is "floppy", especially
when getting out of the saddle. This may be for better handling when
the bike is fully loaded, but as I've never put any luggage on the front
I don't know.

The Nomad I have is the latest model. I had an earlier model year 2000 for a
while. The early model had what you call the 'stodgy' steering. My late
model is much more sporty. Funnily enough I actually preffered the earlier
steering as the bike felt like it was 'on rails'!
John.

--

http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/1170117
"Zog The Undeniable" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:42340f14.0@entanet...

Quoted message said:

Peter Amey said:

Related to the subjects of (a) new bikes and (b) tax free company
purchases, both of which have featured recently, does anyone have
personal experience of the Thorn Raven Tour and lightweight version
thereof?

I am thinking of getting a fast day tourer and rather like the look of
the Rholoff-equipped Raven.

Make sure you take advantage of a test ride. I've had my Nomad for 5
years and I still think the handling is stodgy - my racing bike is so much
nicer in corners. It must be something to do with the head angle or the
rake of the forks, because the steering is "floppy", especially when
getting out of the saddle. This may be for better handling when the bike
is fully loaded, but as I've never put any luggage on the front I don't
know.

Another group member said:

The Nomad I have is the latest model. I had an earlier model year 2000 for a
while. The early model had what you call the 'stodgy' steering. My late
model is much more sporty. Funnily enough I actually preffered the earlier
steering as the bike felt like it was 'on rails'!

Mine is the earlier 1999 model, pre-Aheadset and with a level top tube.
If yours is the 545mm model then I'd consider a frame swap ;-)

Peter Amey wrote:

Thanks for the feedback. I think a test ride is in order.

www.amey.org.uk

Hello, My Nomad is a 525 S. I have a poorly spine-hence the short top tube.
I had a 530 previously and found the top tube a little long. The paintwork
on the latest model is far superior to previous years.
John.

--

http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/1170117
"Zog The Undeniable" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:42343908.0@entanet...

Quoted message said:

Another group member said:

The Nomad I have is the latest model. I had an earlier model year 2000
for a while. The early model had what you call the 'stodgy' steering. My
late model is much more sporty. Funnily enough I actually preffered the
earlier steering as the bike felt like it was 'on rails'!

Mine is the earlier 1999 model, pre-Aheadset and with a level top tube. If
yours is the 545mm model then I'd consider a frame swap ;-)

On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 13:00:23 +0000, Peter Amey <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Peter Amey wrote:

Thanks for the feedback. I think a test ride is in order.

I don't think St John Street do test rides.

Tim

SJSC do, do test rides.
John.
--

http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/1170117
"Tim Hall" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 13:00:23 +0000, Peter Amey <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Peter Amey wrote:

Thanks for the feedback. I think a test ride is in order.

I don't think St John Street do test rides.

Tim

Another group member said:

SJSC do, do test rides.

I thought they were extinct.

R.

Richard wrote:
[test rides]

Quoted message said:

I thought they were extinct.

Not IME, it's just a case of going to the right shop. One of the
reasons I'm a happy customer at Kinetics is that Ben realises that being
a "right shop" involves allowing test rides, /especially/ of expensive
machines.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

Richard wrote:
[test rides]

[dodo]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I thought they were extinct.

Not IME, it's just a case of going to the right shop. One of the
reasons I'm a happy customer at Kinetics is that Ben realises that being
a "right shop" involves allowing test rides, /especially/ of expensive
machines.

Pete.

Colin

In message <[email hidden]>, Peter Clinch
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Richard wrote:
[test rides]

Quoted message said:

I thought they were extinct.

Not IME, it's just a case of going to the right shop.

And on the Ravens, according ot the ad in CTC rag, SJSC have 100 day
money back guarantee if you don't like the bike

--
Chris French, Leeds

Good point about the returning of goods mentioned. I actually purchased a
Thorn bike about 5 years ago. It turned out to be a misfit to me. I kept the
bike about two weeks and called SJSC to explain my problem. To my amazement
I got another bike delivered and the old one collected at no cost next day.
This was before SJSC Thorn ever made any offers of Money Back on advertised
goods.
John.

--
!

http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/1170117
"chris French" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In message <[email hidden]>, Peter Clinch
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Richard wrote:
[test rides]

Quoted message said:

I thought they were extinct.

Not IME, it's just a case of going to the right shop.

And on the Ravens, according ot the ad in CTC rag, SJSC have 100 day money
back guarantee if you don't like the bike

--
Chris French, Leeds