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How much punishment ….

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ourclarioncall:
What would it take to damage /destroy the likes of a nomad?

I’m curious to know what it could withstand as I think I could be overly cautious for fear of it getting damaged

Where do bikes fail first ?

Not saying I would want to but could it handle being ridden off the kerb repeatedly and cope with a 5” drop and thump? What about if the bike was loaded up with weight ?

Danneaux:
Speaking as a hobbyist framebuilder who started decades ago by salvaging tubes from damaged frames, the quickest way to truly destroy any frame is to a) run into a curb or parked car head-on or b) incur a massive dent in the unbutted center section of the top or down tubes. Airlines baggage handlers can do a lot of damage. My bike was once selected for a bomb-detection exercise somewhere between Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands and my final destination in Portland Oregon. The frame incurred scratched but survived, the wheels, saddle and some components did not as the bike was badly repacked and seemed to have been dropped. I had no recourse as the damage was caused by the TSA rather than the airlines. I did once see someone "pop a wheelie" on a loaded tourer...and then snap the steerer tube just above the fork crown from the impact of landing. I saw another MTB fail when the rider "cased" a landing off a 2m high loading dock. I would consider these last two examples gross abuse. A seized seatpost can make for some real problems, so be sure to remove and grease it periodically. Rust and powdercoat are a bad mix and can slowly ruin a frame as the rust tends to "tunnel" under the fused plastic coating. Touch up nicks and scratches once in awhile and you'll be fine.

Aside from that, I've found the Raven Tour I rode back and forth across Europe and my own Nomad were remarkably durable and have so far survived all my travels without damage or incident. I tend to "ride light" and am considerate of my equipment (it is expensive and who wants to be stranded by a breakage tens or hundreds of miles from assistance? Not me!), but I have ridden (gently and standing) off standard city curbs while fully loaded if there was no alternative or by accident when I misjudged a swale in a curb for the top of a curb cut/ramp and incurred no damage. I once entered a steep downhill bridge sidewalk via a curb cut at the top and assumed there was one at the bottom as I coasted down it at 32kmh. The sidewalk ended in a step that was about 25cm high and by the time I saw it, it was too late to do anything except carry my speed off it. I stood up to unweight the saddle and handlebars and bent elbows and knees to absorb shock. I landed fine continuing with no damage whatsoever to bike, wheels, racks or me.

On expeditions, I weigh 78kg and my Nomad weighs 20kg. Fully loaded with 26.5l/kg of water and lots of food, it has carried 36kg loads, so total all-up weight 78+20+36=134kg/295lbs. I ride it on heavily ballasted logging roads (see pics) with deep potholes or cross-country and...no problems. Of course, I do not ride with such a load habitually but do on occasion when I need to be away from stores for some time and am solo. If desert touring in summer, then I need about 8.3l of water/day, so this is about a 3-day supply intended to last between windmill-pumped cattle troughs.

Much of the credit goes to the tires used. If they are large in cross section and don't carry really high pressures (as with my 26 x 2.0 Schwalbe Duremes), they can absorb a lot of punishment and mute impacts before they reach the frame.

The Nomad has been designed and engineered to address common failure points. It uses oversize tubing and stout tube wall thicknesses. The rack mounts are 6mm instead of the usual 5mm and it is well made and inspected multiple times before delivery. Andy Blance has taken great care to make all Thorn's bikes reliable for the long haul and real-world use. I don't think you'd have much to worry about short of some egregious incident or gross carelessness.

Best,

Dan.

ourclarioncall:
Thanks Dan , I love long detailed posts , appreciate you pouring out for me 👍

ourclarioncall:
So I’m thinking , as a kid why did we seem to be able to punish our bikes fearlessly and bikes seem to be unphased

Maybe coz we were all on mountain bikes that were with or without suspension

What helps the most with impact , is the big fat mountain bike  tyres or the suspension or a combo of both

Saying that , typically most rear wheels had no suspension and would take a thump as you flew off the kerb

And now I think about it , most of our wheels wobbled when the bike was upside down and you spun the wheels . I guess all that jumping off kerbs had done what? Messed up the spokes tension ?

ourclarioncall:
So why would running straight into a kerb or a car be so bad? What happens scientifically speaking ?

We would usually ride towards a kerb then yank up the front wheel to avoid impact . But I do have memories of seeing people run straight into them

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