If I may add to your thread, freddered, I'd like to add my impression of buying a Thorn Raven. I went down to SJS Cycles last Saturday to try one out and discuss the options.
SJS Cycles is an odd place to visit. It occupies what looks to be two terraced houses, with a reception / small showroom containing a few bikes at the front. Not very impressive you might think.
When you ask about the Ravens, a chap comes through from the back and leads you through to the main showroom. To get there you go through what looks to be a dispatch area, then a bike building area, then a large warehouse stuffed to the ceiling with all sorts of weird and wonderful bike components, then out of the back and into another building, up a ramp, through another bike building area, into the Thorn showroom which had about 20 solos and tandems on display. This was all a little odd. TARDIS technology indeed. In fact the whole day was a bit surreal.
They have a small amount of bikes there to try out. From previous discussions with them, I knew that the Thorn Raven Tour would be the most suitable for me, mainly due to the lack of heel clearance with panniers on the Sport Tour. I had a go on the Raven Tour that they had available - there aren't any hills around the shop, but there is a small park behind the houses across the street and there are plenty of suburban roads to cycle around.
I spent about 20 minutes pootling about, trying out the Rohloff hub and various gear changes with it. As I wrote in the other thread, the Rohloff is a bit odd - especially the noise and feedback through the pedals. In some of the gears it feels a bit 'ratchety' or 'clicky', especially 5th and 7th. On the other hand, the gear changes are clean and easy (only one changer to think about), and I'm attracted by the ease of cleaning and maintenance of the hub over derailleur gears. Whilst 20 minutes on a bike that isn't specifically set up for you isn't really enough to decide on whether a bike is perfect, I was impressed enough with the hub and the handling / ride of the bike to commit to giving it a go. With the 100 day satisfaction guarantee, there isn't much that can go wrong really.
Once I'd decided that the Raven Tour was the bike for me (at least to trial for 100 days), there was then the small issue of deciding on all the options. This felt more like a chat about bike components in the pub than actually buying anything. There was absolutely no sales pressure, and Dan, the sales guy, seemed like the most unlikely salesman I've ever met. Having said that, he succeeded in getting me to part with just over 1600 quid. We worked our way through the options, some of which are on the standard form, and some of which were a bit more unusual.
For those interested, I ended up going for a green frame (I liked the understated look of this), ceramic rims, Panaracer Pasela TG tyres, a Schmidt hub (which I'm going to buy a Solidlights 1203D for), Thorn comfort bars with inboard bar-ends and Ergon grips, Terry Fly saddle, Blackburn rack, Pitlock skewers (as so much of the price is in the wheels / hubs, I'm trying to keep them attached to the bike for as long as possible), and various other bits and pieces.
As I said above, it was all a bit surreal, partly due to the odd shop layout, partly because of the lack of conventional salesmanship, and partly as it's the first time I've bought a bike and not left with it on the day. The down side is that they said it would take a couple of weeks to build it up and deliver it. But I got a phone call yesterday to say that it's being delivered on Monday.
I'll let you all know how it goes when it arrives.
Cheers.
