New Sport Tour

[Swislon]

Thanks for the photos Simon. I phoned Thorn up today and got to talk to Andy Blance himself. He said there was just not enough room for inboard bar ends on a straight bar as well as outboard bar ends. Maybe there is more room on a Comfort bar. He himself favours Ergon grips with Cane creek bar ends on a straight bar, particularly for audax. This is the set up I'm going to start with and hopefully wont need to change.

It is a good point you make about the bigger jumps in the higher gears. We are spoilt these days with 10 speeds and STIs. I know, as others have mentioned it, I will be looking for "half" gears until I adapt. I am now tempted to change to a 42 or 40 or maybe just wait and see. Fred and DaveFife have 44*16 and are happy with their set up so I think I'll give it ago. It's not too far to send for a lower one, even just to try if I want to.

Cheers

[PH]

My experience of Rohloff gearing ratios closley matches Simons, even with 40/16 I sometimes find the gap between 12-13 and 13-14 to be a bit wide.  But like I said we're all different and to give it a bit of perspective, a chainring costs £15.99.  
I cut my straight bars down to almost the same width as my drops. It wasn't that I didn't like them wide, I just found the difference hard to adjust too (either way) after I'd been riding one for a while.  I'm still not sure I've got it right, the heels of my hands ache a bit after long days.  

[goosander]

Simon, thanks for posting the photo's.  I really like the green colour, I am now seriously tempted to go for green on mine rather than stealth black.

Wish I could get away with not having mudguards, but not really an option in the UK.

[lardy]

"I have ordered standard brakes and chainset and am wondering whether I should upgrade or whether I would notice the difference."

I have the XTR brakes on my RST. My previous bike has Deore brakes, I can really feel the difference, the XTR brakes don't half stop me in a hurry. Whether it's £135 better is hard to say.

[Swislon]

I am going to upgrade the brakes to Deore LX for £20 as it sounds like a good value upgrade.
I bet I end up cutting down my bars as well PH, but on my Moulton I got used to flat bar and bar ends for the road but it isn't as comfy as drops. The purpose of the RST for me is not just road riding so whatever bike I was going to get it wouldn't have had drops anyway. My bar decision was more between Thorn comfort, riser or straight and accept the compromise. Though obviously I want to get it as comfortable as I can.

Cheers

[simonsydney]

Goosander, I was undecided between the black and green as well. I like the green, it is a classic colour and in different light you get different shades of green, which I like.  Good luck with your choice, I think both colours look great !

Swislon, I upgraded to the LX brakes as well, and while I don't have anything to compare them to, they stop very well indeed. I have a steep hill near me that I ride down almost every day at >55km/hr and at least once a week cars pull out of side streets in front of me, and my brakes stop me each time (great way to get the heart started in the morning !!).
You're right, I have the comfort bars, not the straight bars, and really, I don't think you are missing anything with not having inboard bar ends. I really like the cane creek ergo ones though.

[stutho]

Hi Swislon,
Congratulations on deciding on a Sport Tour - it really is an excellent bike.  

• Brakes - I would go for the upgrade.  Personally I feel that the brakes are the most important part of a bike. (Get Kool Stop Salmon pads if you can.)


• Hub Generator - I wish I had got on my bike! A good investment if you decide on one.


• Gearing - It's really hard to specify what gearing will be right or wrong for another cyclist there are just too many variables.  I use 42 by 16 normally and 42 by 17 on tour.  If anything I would say my gearing is on the high side. Note that using small gearing will NOT reduce the jumps in the range.  If you are peddle 80'' on the flat then the next gear up will be ~ 91'' no matter what the chain ring size is.


• Drops - If you are happier on drops I would thing very seriously about switching to a bar.    Personally I don’t notice that shifter position anymore yet I benefit every day from having drops. (I agree that the shifter looks 'ugly' on a drop and that an integrated shifter would be better.)  Why not try the drops during the 100-day period.  If you do find that the shifter position is a problem then you can always get the bar and frame switched.

Best of luck,
Stutho

[goosander]

I'd just like to say thanks to all who have contibuted to this thread as it has finally prompted me to take the plunge and order a Sport Tour.  Particular thanks to Simon for posting the pic of his bike (it persuaded me to go green) and also to davefife who let me have a shot on his bike earlier in the year.

I have been after a Raven for ages now and it has been a struggle to decide which bike, never mind colour & spec.  I was almost tempted to get a City Slicker instead of the Sport Tour because it has disk brakes and can be a MTB with a change of tyres, but in the end I decided that the Sport Tour was much better suited to my needs and being cheaper allowed me to dip in to the options list a bit.

This is what I have gone for -

Sport Tour 561L in British Racing Green
Straight bars & those Ergon grips with the integrated bar ends
Black Rohloff, 42x16 gearing.
Hope front hub
Mavic XC717's shod with Conti Sport Contact 1.6's
LX brakes with XTR levers
Carbon seatpost & Brooks B17 titanium saddle in brown

[davefife]

Excellent news goosander, well done and keep in touch we can run out on our rohloff equipped rst's!
best wishes
David

[Swislon]

Hi goosander, It's a great feeling to take the plunge and yet I'm now feeling a little apprehensive as well. I've just received the invoice and I can see I'll have to phone tommorrow to fine tune. Silver rims and silver QR levers with black hubs doesn't seem quite right to me, or am I being anal ? I thought Thorn would have adjusted things like that, but it was a Friday late into the afternoon.
Hope hub goosander ? I am interested to learn why Hope, which one and what was extra price ?

stutho, I have decided on brake upgrade to LX but stick with standard levers. I have also decided to change chainset to 42*16 as a compromise. However, although I prefer drops for road riding, as this bike will be doing other things as well and as it's a Rohloff I know I don't want to go down the drop route. Just riding some small bridleways round here I prefer straight bars and quick access to the brakes.
Cheers

[goosander]

I know what you mean exactly what you mean about the silver rims & black hubs.  Before deciding to go for a green frame I was planning to go for silver rims with the black frame but felt that black hubs might look a bit odd particularly at the front, so was thinking about getting a gun metal grey Hope hub.

I quite like all black disc specific rims but am less keen on black rims which have a silver machined braking surface but in the end I decided to go for these as I think black looks good with the green frame.  For a black frame I think the silver rims add a bit of contrast, though the black/grey ceramic rims also look very good but are ridiculously pricey.  As for the skewers, I didn't think about them as I intend replacing the standard ones with pitlock skewers ASAP.

I have seen enough pictures of Thorn bikes with a mix & match approach to silver & black components to suspect that you will probably get whatever is to hand unless you explicitly specify component colours.

I chose the Hope hub (£35 upgrade, so not cheap) over the Shimano ones because it has cartridge bearings and I want the bike to be as easy to maintain as possible - I hate messing around with cup & cone bearings almost as much as I hate adjusting brake pads (hence the LX brake upgrade).

I'm still wondering if I should have gone for drops as I can see the advantage of the multiple hand positions, but I have never had a drop barred bike before so can't be sure if it would really suit me.  Not having the shifter to hand is a disadvantage but maybe not a huge one, as the only time I have ridden a drop barred bike with STI shifters, I didn't like them all that much as they seemed very awkward to use (especially on the hoods) in comparision to MTB shifters.  I might try and borrow a bike with drops this weekend and see how I get on with it.

[nnnmvg]

I'm another person going thro the pleasure and agony of speccing up a RST - the pleasure being the host of tempting extras and the agony being deciding what to delete when the bottom line is revealed!!

My current dilemma is whether or not to buy the RST with S&S fittings. I'm buying the bike as an early retirement present to myself and like the idea of the freedom to easily transport a bike by car, bus, train or even air to new cycling 'pastures' ... but the S&S fittings, even pre-fitted in Taiwan still add £350 to the cost [£450 if retrofitted in Bridgewater).

I'd appreciate any views comments on this S&S dilemma. I have no previous experience of using the couplings -- indeed I have never even seen a bike fitted with the coupling so it feels like a lot of money to jump into the unknown as it were!

Must say the messages posted on this forum have been invaluable in helping to navigate through the option choices.

[john28july]

quote:Originally posted by nnnmvg

I'm another person going thro the pleasure and agony of speccing up a RST - the pleasure being the host of tempting extras and the agony being deciding what to delete when the bottom line is revealed!!

My current dilemma is whether or not to buy the RST with S&S fittings. I'm buying the bike as an early retirement present to myself and like the idea of the freedom to easily transport a bike by car, bus, train or even air to new cycling 'pastures' ... but the S&S fittings, even pre-fitted in Taiwan still add £350 to the cost [£450 if retrofitted in Bridgewater).

I'd appreciate any views comments on this S&S dilemma. I have no previous experience of using the couplings -- indeed I have never even seen a bike fitted with the coupling so it feels like a lot of money to jump into the unknown as it were!

Must say the messages posted on this forum have been invaluable in helping to navigate through the option choices.

Hello, I assume that you have had an enjoyable time!  I too hope that you have taken time to look at my Thorn bikes?
http://www.pbase.com/john28july/the_bikes

John.

[goosander]

I don't know much about the S&S couplings but I haven't heard anything bad about them either, so I guess it comes down to whether or not you consider the benefit to be worth the cost.

Personally I wouldn't bother because the folded size of the bike is still going to be much larger than that of a small wheeled folder such as a Brompton, so it wouldn't be worth it to me.  The money might be better spent on a decent bike bag, car rack, or even a folding bike.

[Swislon]

The final spec is:
Stealth black, 561L,
Straight bars
105mm stem
Ergon grips and Cane Creek bar ends
XC 717 rims
Black Rohloff, 42*16
Hope standard front hub in black
1.5" Tourguards, silver mudguards
Blackburn Mtn carrier
Brooks B17 Champion special honey
Deore LX brake upgrade, standard levers
Chainset standard
Chain, standard with chain link.

Thats it.[]
Until I ride it in a couple of weeks and hopefully don't need to change anything. All black and silver.
Thanks for your input everyone.
Cheers