I have one and I love it. It's difficult to "rate" it because it depends on what you're comparing it to and what you want to do with it? Do you have any more specific questions? There are some magazine reviews posted on the SJSC site which are fairly useful - I'm guessing you've read them already?
Positives...
- Rohloff hub - I don't think I could face going back to a derailer. I wouldn't say the hub is perfect, it gets a bit of getting used to and I suspect the external mech the Enduro needs gives it a slightly different feel than other Rohloff bikes. But after awhile you get used to it.
- Disk brakes. It's the first bike I've had with disk brakes, so I can't really compare the Hope Mini hydraulic brakes with anything else - but I notice a massive difference when riding a bike with cables. You soon find you only need to use one finger to brake. I don't think I could face going back to non-hydraulic non-disk brakes :-)
- Cable routing is very neat and tidy so it's comfortable to put the bike over your shoulder to carry. The cable routing at the back tends to collect dirt quite a bit - but that's not much of a problem.
- Complete lack of maintenance. I can't say I've used mine a great deal, but it's easy to clean, and I think the only maintenance I really do is to change the hub oil once a year and occasionally tighten the chain tension (which is dead simple with the eccentric bottom bracket). With my last bike I was always changing and adjusting brake blocks and fiddling with the gears.
- It looks beautiful - I don't see many bikes that look as nice as a Thorn Raven Enduro.
Negatives...
- It's made of steel so it's heavy, which is obviously quite noticeable on the hills. It's probably its biggest "down side", although personally I don't find this to be much of a problem. On the upside steel feels nice and springy on bumpy trails - it rides well - and the welds won't crack apart like they might on an alloy bike?
- Gear change twister can be quite stiff and you have to move your hand to the twister on the bars to change gear - which can be awkward on a trail?
- Expensive? Well perhaps not - you could easily spend 2 grand on any other decent mountain bike. But I have to say that I get a bit paranoid about having my (basically 750 quid) back wheel nicked which means if I have to lock it up anywhere I take 2 chunky bike locks with me. Personally I think it's well worth the money.
