Thorn Cycles Forum
Community => Thorn General => Topic started by: j22jbl on March 21, 2010, 03:43:18 PM
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Hi
I would be interested to hear from anyone with Audax experience on a Raven Sports Tour. How ideal is this bike for a 200 plus event? Could it be a little on the heavy side, albeit with bomb proof reliability?
I need a bike suitable for Audax (as a novice not having yet ridden one!) and touring with a reasonable, but not heavy load for the occasional week to two week holiday.
Would a set of 1.75 or 1.5 tyres offer much difference in feel/performance.
Look forward to having some feedback and thanks in advance.
John
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I've not ridden any events over 200km ( yet ! ) on my RST, but I have no doubts the bike is comfortable enough ! - Audax events are ridden on many varieties of machine & although there may be a trend for lightweight & exotic roadbikes being bandied about by the cycling mags as sportif bikes , Audax events ( & touring ) are more about comfort than speed, & although my RST is no lightweight, the low gears enable me to get up ANY hills relatively easily & 26x 1.5" tyres provide a good balance in speed / comfort & are re-assuring on poor road surfaces & night riding - 1.75" tyres would be my preference for loaded touring -The RST makes a great light tourer too !
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Thanks. Do you suggest that 26 X 1.50 may be preferable to 1.75s on lightweight day rides? I must admit that I have found the 1.75s very comfortable, although I increased the air pressure today and found them less so, but without any obvious performance gain.
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Thanks. Do you suggest that 26 X 1.50 may be preferable to 1.75s on lightweight day rides?
FWIW, after a rash of punctures in the winter I changed the tyres on my Raven Tour (not Sport) to Marathon Plus 26x1.35 (I couldn't find anywhere that sold 26x1.5). Bike handles nicely. I just did a 200km Audax on it yesterday.
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Are Ravens popular on Audax rides? I have just joined Audax, and have a copy of thier latest magazine. Most of the bikes have drop bars, but must admit I have never used the drops on previous bikes, usually ride on the break hoods.....
Think I might invest in some 1.5s.
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Hi
I'm using Marathon Supremes (26x1.6) on my RST - very light and fast.
ian
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Are Ravens popular on Audax rides?
No, I have never seen another one, in fact I have only seen one other Rohloff bike. Most people seem to use out-and-out road bikes or "light tourer" type bikes.
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Part of the attraction of Audax is that you can ride any roadworthy bike (or trike) at all. I use my Club Tour regularly and this weekend rode a 220km event on my Pashley Moulton TSR30. I also use a lightweight Bianchi for shorter events where I don't need to carry anything. I would think the Raven would be eminently suitable, bearing in mind that the objective is to finish within a specified time rather than to race. I think a regular contributor to this forum recently rode a Super Series (200/300/400/600) on a Raven. Are you there Freddered?
It's more about the rider than the machine.
Cheers,
pj
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Thanks Peter. That is useful feedback. I have been a little concerned about my first Audax, and it appears that I should have no concern turning up on an RST. I didn't want to be the odd one out, or at best have something regarded by most as unsuitable!
I recently purchased the RST with a view to touring holidays, previously used a Dawes Galaxy. The Audax was an after purchase interest that has now developed, and I wondered if under the Thorn 100 day money back offer, i had made the right choice, given the significant additional cost of the Rohloff. For same price I could have the entry Thorn Audax and a traditional touring bike. I rather hope the RST will provide dual use. I do have a trek 1500 road bike also but with narrow tyres, light rims and no mud guards, I doubt that would be a strong contender for Audax.
As always, thanks to all for your contributions.
Regards
John
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I do have a trek 1500 road bike also but with narrow tyres, light rims and no mud guards, I doubt that would be a strong contender for Audax.
As people have said, most bikes are suitable for Audax use, including your Trek. I ride most of my audaxes (including 400s and 600s) on a road racing bike with 23mm tyres. I don't have any comfort issues with this set up. I've recently been riding a couple of audaxes on my Raven Nomad. Good fun, but hard work!
Shaun
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Hi
I ride a RST with 1.5 Panaracer Pasela TG's which are fine and shrug off most of the smaller potholes and gravel traps. I love riding this bike on 200 + rides and don't have any problems keeping up with the more "orthodox" bikes.
The one thing I would recomend is the Thorn comfort handlebar, this has a quite large sweep to it allowing your hands to sit in a much more natural position that completey straight bars provide. I don't get numb hands or feel the need for bar ends to give me another position.
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Hi
I ride a RST with 1.5 Panaracer Pasela TG's which are fine and shrug off most of the smaller potholes and gravel traps. I love riding this bike on 200 + rides and don't have any problems keeping up with the more "orthodox" bikes.
The one thing I would recomend is the Thorn comfort handlebar, this has a quite large sweep to it allowing your hands to sit in a much more natural position that completey straight bars provide. I don't get numb hands or feel the need for bar ends to give me another position.
Blacksail, I appreciate your input. Have you tried 1.75 Panaracer TGs to compare with the 1.5s? I did wonder about the 1.5s and it would be good to get some advice from someone who has tried both.
My RST has the short straight bars and I have had no problems yet, but haven't been much futher than 30 miles at a time. Plan to increase that distance this weekend. I need to increase fitness to get more out of the bike and have booked some charity rides as a means of increasing the distance in an environment a little less daunting than Audax. Looking forward to clocking up some miles however!
John
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Yes, I wore out a set of 1,75 Pasela TGs before trying the the 1.5s. I was looking to reduce the weight and swapped my comfort bars for narrow straight bars at the same time. The handle bar experiment didn't last very long as I really missed my old comfort bars and put them back on after a couple of rides. I will however stick with the narrower tyres as they do the job for me.
I did ride for a while with 1.5 on the front and 1.75 at the rear as I assumed the rear was was taking more of a pounding but do prefer the feel of riding on the 1.5s so now use these all the time
Other tyres I have used:
Vittoria Rubino Pro Slick 1.75 beautifully quiet and absolutely lethal on drain covers :o, the rear tyre wore out after 2,000km
Schwalbe Winter studded tyres, a lifesaver on ice :)but heavy, noisy and make the bike feel pretty horrible :(.
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Yes, I wore out a set of 1,75 Pasela TGs before trying the the 1.5s. I was looking to reduce the weight and swapped my comfort bars for narrow straight bars at the same time. The handle bar experiment didn't last very long as I really missed my old comfort bars and put them back on after a couple of rides. I will however stick with the narrower tyres as they do the job for me.
I did ride for a while with 1.5 on the front and 1.75 at the rear as I assumed the rear was was taking more of a pounding but do prefer the feel of riding on the 1.5s so now use these all the time
Other tyres I have used:
Vittoria Rubino Pro Slick 1.75 beautifully quiet and absolutely lethal on drain covers :o, the rear tyre wore out after 2,000km
Schwalbe Winter studded tyres, a lifesaver on ice :)but heavy, noisy and make the bike feel pretty horrible :(.
Thanks, would be interested in your advice on tyre pressure. I have always pumped mine upto the max in the probably mistaken beleif that more has got to be better. Havin said that, I dont treat my car tryes in the same ways wo why over inflate the bike tryes! I will delfate my 1.75s for the weekend to about half way between the min and max pressures indicated to se how that feels.
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Vik contributed some good advice about tyre pressures on a thread here, but unfortunately I can't find it :-[ Maybe it was slightly off topic?
However, I did take this link from his post at the time http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com/images/TireDrop.pdf and if memory serves me there was a link to some comments by Sheldon Brown on this subject. Hope this helps.
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Here's Vik's post:
http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=2363.msg11350#msg11350
I wrote these two in the same thread:
http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=2363.msg11322#msg11322
http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=2363.msg11326#msg11326
Shaun
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I ride my RST on audax, several 200s and many shorter, but never longer. Its superb and will get you round any distance no bother, I am sure. I am currently using Conti sport contact 26xnarrowish, they have a 1 year replace if punctured guarantee and are better (for me) than schwalbes and Panaracer.
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I ride my RST on audax, several 200s and many shorter, but never longer. Its superb and will get you round any distance no bother, I am sure. I am currently using Conti sport contact 26xnarrowish, they have a 1 year replace if punctured guarantee and are better (for me) than schwalbes and Panaracer.
Thank you for the feedback on your RST use. I rode mine 76 miles this weekend, 50 yesterday and 26 today with no problems whatsoever. Will look forward to the long bank holiday weekend to get a few more in, and will then get some audax booked.
Do you never ride more than 200s for any particular reason? Just wonder if anything beyond that might be stretching the bike comfort/performance wise? I will check out the Conti Sports also.
Cheers
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I recently purchased the RST with a view to touring holidays, previously used a Dawes Galaxy. The Audax was an after purchase interest that has now developed,
I have done 200k audaxes in the past on a Dawes Galaxy, that is now replaced by a RST which has Pasela TG 1.75" tyres which I am quite happy with so far and would be happy to do audax on. I am not desperate to switch to thinner tyres although the Marathon Supremes 1.6" look interesting.
Incidentally, I have never done more than a 200k audax mainly because I don't have time to do enough miles to get the stamina for longer audaxes, but also because riding in darkness on unfamiliar roads while tired doesn't appeal to me - never mind sleep deprivation! Nothing to do with the bike, just me :-[
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Do you never ride more than 200s for any particular reason?
no real reason other than having to fit everything into a busy life :D its not about the bike if thats your worry, hope you got some miles in your legs over the easter break. cheers
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I rode a DIY 200km audax ride on Sunday, on my Raven Tour.
I usually use a road bike for audax, but decided to test my legs and use the Thorn. The furthest i had ridden it in a day was 105 miles, but the route i planned for the 200km turned out to be 135.6 miles.
It took me 10 hours 41 mins start to finish with the first half of the ride in glorious sunshine and the second half (in proper audax style) in wind and pouring rain. The bike performed faultlessly as expected.
So while the RT is a lot heavier than my road bike and i certainly noticed the difference, i took this into account from the start and paced myself well. The result was an extremely enjoyable ride and one i will certainly repeat using my bombproof steed.
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I've used my Raven Tour for 200/300/400/600km Audax rides.
It's not a problem unless you are trying to set a record.