Thorn Cycles Forum
Community => Rohloff Internal Hub Gears => Topic started by: nicknoxx on October 22, 2010, 09:19:39 PM
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Thought you might be interested in my 50th birthday present:
(http://www.zen202900.zen.co.uk/bike/pics/IMG_2188.JPG)
(http://www.zen202900.zen.co.uk/bike/pics/IMG_2168.JPG)
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Very nice.
Many happy returns.
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So I guess it's titanium?
How would you describe it?
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Happy birthday. Love those frame ends. -- Andre Jute
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So I guess it's titanium?
How would you describe it?
Well, I haven't ridden a steel bike for decades but this one, Ti as you suppose, is amazing. It's stiff enough to be confidence inspiring but is still comfortable to ride. It's got full length mudguards on it now as the lanes round here are covered in s**t. It looks a bit odd because you never see bikes designed for rigid forks these days so the head tube is relatively long. The bars have been lowered a bit too.
Is it the best bike I ever ridden? Yes, it is. But then I did spend over a year designing it and I'm particularly chuffed with the dropouts.
The only thing that's at all annoying is the fact that the cables coming out of the Rohloff shifter point forwards and so have to do a long bend to reach the downtube. Has anyone tried a brake noodle right after the shifter to get the cables pointing inwards?
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The airnimal rohloff has a pair of flexible noodles on the shifter and they look really good, i tried a standard noodle and it wasn't wholly successful.
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I was curious about its vocation, sort of thing. Light off-road would be my guess? Can't imagine there's a lot of room for big tyres in there?
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I was curious about its vocation, sort of thing. Light off-road would be my guess? Can't imagine there's a lot of room for big tyres in there?
Ah, I see. Almost all of my riding is on rural lanes, tow paths, bridleways - light off road as you say; so that's what the bike was build for. It can just fit 29x2.0 tyres which is what I'll use in the summer months but under mudguards 700c 38 are better.
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The airnimal rohloff has a pair of flexible noodles on the shifter and they look really good, i tried a standard noodle and it wasn't wholly successful.
I didn't think the flexible noodles would be very effective - did the normal ones make shifting harder?
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The standard ones needed the taper on the noodle trimming to fit snugly into the base of the shifter housing and then took on a life of their own when the handlebars were turned ,swivelling about quite a bit , the flexible ones on the airnimal in Cycle Heaven York took up a right angle bend just like the standard ones and were not affected by turning the bars. they were not the standard straight flexible noodles but were a right angle shape, i just haven't been able to source any, i tried e-mailing Airnimal but got no response. They look really good, and shifting them, in the shop , was not at all stiff.
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Looks nice. I like the custom Rohloff cable guides on the down tube, that's one thing I miss on my off the shelf Lynskey.
I take it you've got an eccentric BB.
I think, if I was going for a custom frame, I'd have had a split chainstay or seatstay. I'd like the option to run a belt drive when they become cheap and proven.
My Lynskey Ridgeline 29 race bike.
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4130/5001272931_03794c7fbb.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8805115@N04/5001272931/)
Lynskey (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8805115@N04/5001272931/) by Vegan Graham (http://www.flickr.com/people/8805115@N04/), on Flickr
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That is really nice nicknoxx. I like the forks, off the peg or did you get them custom made as well?
There must be something about being 50, Ti and Rohloff, though as mid life crisis go it's a cheap one ;D Here's my 50th birthday present to myself;
(http://www.derbyctc.org.uk/ph/ml/tirol.jpg)
And just in case anyone thinks I'm lowering the tone with my no name Chinese frame, my other bike was built by Linskey;
(http://www.derbyctc.org.uk/ph/px2/planetxinthesunshine.jpg)
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The forks were made by Waltworks. They're steel but quite light because they're tapered and very compliant. He can make forks to and length and rake you like.
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Looks nice. I like the custom Rohloff cable guides on the down tube, that's one thing I miss on my off the shelf Lynskey.
I take it you've got an eccentric BB.
I think, if I was going for a custom frame, I'd have had a split chainstay or seatstay. I'd like the option to run a belt drive when they become cheap and proven.
Quite late on in the design process I asked Lynskey about splitting the dropout and they said that they wouldn't guarantee the frame against breakage so that was the end of that. They also said the an EBB (which mine has; a Bushnell) wouldn't provide enough movement to tension a belt. Van Nic manage it though. I think they just didn't want to redraw the frame and create a delay - wouldn't have mattered the bike shop in the uk took months to get all the components together so it was delivered 10 weeks after my birthday anyway. :-(
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PH
What rack is that?
Stu
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Great looking bikes, makes me wonder about 953 tubes, drop bars, 700x32 tyres, disc brakes, and Rohloff of course .... past 50, wonder if 55th is an important enough birthday?!?!?
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Ha! I put down money for a new Nomad on my 55th! I'm expecting a request for final payment maybe this week or next. And I have never even seen a bike anything like it, nor Thorn nor Rohloff nor cetera. Got to keep the spirit of adventure!
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This guy in Scotland (http://www.shandcycles.com/) will put a removeable joint into a seatstay to permit a belt drive. If you look carefully at one of the last photos on the blog page you will see one fitted to the bike on show.
You would need a new paint job after, but it is possible.
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This guy in Scotland (http://www.shandcycles.com/) will put a removeable joint into a seatstay to permit a belt drive. If you look carefully at one of the last photos on the blog page you will see one fitted to the bike on show.
You would need a new paint job after, but it is possible.
Steel frames only though.
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PH
What rack is that?
Stu
It's a stainless steel Tubus Cosmo. A slightly changed design new this year, wider top platform and a better protected rear light mount. I'm a fan of Tubus racks but inevitably the steel ones get a bit of ugly surface rust after a few years where the panniers and hooks rub. For the price I'm expecting this one to last my lifetime!
http://www.tubus.com/en/rear-carriers/cosmo
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Tubus make a titanium rack. . . .
Burls have them
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Tubus make a titanium rack. . . .
Burls have them
Yes - I was half expecting PH to say that the rack was Ti, I have never seen one in the flesh.
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Tubus make a titanium rack. . . .
Burls have them
They make two - the Airy which has been around a while but wasn't suited to my needs and the brand new Logo Titan that wasn't around when I bought mine. If it had been it would have been a contender, though at £60 more and a 25% reduced capacity* I may still have chosen the SS rack.
*30 kg instead of 40 kg, neither of which I'm ever going to get close to, but the extra capacity might indicate extra strength, which might be a good thing.
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It's a stainless steel Tubus Cosmo. A slightly changed design new this year, wider top platform and a better protected rear light mount.
It's a good rack, more solid than I was expecting by virtue of its triangulation, but it is still pretty small (looks like it was designed with road bikes and light tourers in mind even though it has a pretty decent weight rating), and the lower horizontal rails are inconveniently angled in under the toprails, presumably as part of the triangulation, making it difficult to hang bags and baskets and on them; my fave everyday luggage consists of an open Basil pannier basket, model Cardiff, and a leather saddlebag bag big enough to rest on the rack. But at the price, and in stainless steel, the Cosmo had better see me out, so it'll have to do.
Andre Jute
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(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1186654/Misc/Rohloff3.jpeg)
It just celebrated its first birthday. Custom steel frame by Carl Strong.
More pics: http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/1186654/1/Rohloff?h=ef5a74
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Nice bike Snoogly
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Snoogly – Will that take big tyres? Puts me in mind of an MTB slicked-up for the road.
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It will take up to 2.5 tires, with fenders.
It's hard to describe what kind of bike it is :-* Basically it was built to suit my battered old-sih body, as I have bad back and don't want to lean forwards. Drops are out of the question for me, and I like flat top tubes. It is very stiff, but also very responsive. I went with disk brakes as I hate adjusting brake pads and cables ... So easy I know, but I got annoyed every time I had to tweak v-breaks.
I used to have a rear rack, but now I am using bags like this to carry stuff:
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That's one of Revelate's bags isn't it Snoogly? They do some interesting gear, including great custom frame bags. I'm picturing a long minimalist summer tour on a rack-free RST, with just bar bag / seat pack / frame bag. Mmmmmmhh, that'd be the way to travel....
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Mine looks very similar to yours when I swap out the tyres and forks for road use. This is in MTB guise:
(https://photos-1.dropbox.com/i/m/l-e5NyYVAdTBfbjdsRiUFZoqavRJcCkBTC4wCaEjyco/19536060/1296745200/526bd67)
No idea why this keeps failing. Shows up fine for a while, and then... nothing. ???