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Bikes For Sale / Re: Sherpa 535L
« Last post by steveparry on April 10, 2026, 08:04:17 PM »Still available.
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Non-Thorn Related / Re: ++++Rides of 2026++++Add yours here++++
« Last post by John Saxby on April 10, 2026, 06:44:08 PM »Thanks, Andre. Glad you liked the ice floes -- lotsa folks here think that their persistence is just a bit too much.
I find myself saying, "This too shall pass..."
Quote
Hope you weren't wearing shortsNo chance -- we're not there yet. Yesterday's late-afternoon temps were around 18º, but that was followed by a dramatic drop, complete with rain mixed with snow. 🙁
I find myself saying, "This too shall pass..."
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Lighting and Electronics / Re: Thorn Sherpa bottle dynamo lug
« Last post by Danneaux on April 10, 2026, 06:08:47 PM »For many years,SJS Cccles carried a variety of bespoke brackets to fit bottle dynamos to these bosses. Still do!...
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/dynamos/thorn-stainless-steel-sliding-dynamo-boss-for-thorn-forks-with-boss-type-1-tshape/?geoc=US
...and...
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/dynamos/thorn-stainless-steel-sliding-dynamo-boss-for-thorn-forks-with-boss-type-2-lshape/?geoc=US
Some of us who run standard or dyno hubs use the threaded sockes to store spare bolts/machine screws. George (mickeg) used his to store spare SPD cleat bolts, as I recall. I do the same. On a spare pair of forks fitted to another bike, I used the bracket to secure a B&M USB charging unit. Very tidy, it looked made for the task! On another Thorn fork, I am in-process making a spork mount to go on those same bosses. Screws threaded in from the reverse side, wing-nuts with beeswax on the threads and a homemade stainless clip to guard against rattling loose.
Best, Dan.
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/dynamos/thorn-stainless-steel-sliding-dynamo-boss-for-thorn-forks-with-boss-type-1-tshape/?geoc=US
...and...
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/dynamos/thorn-stainless-steel-sliding-dynamo-boss-for-thorn-forks-with-boss-type-2-lshape/?geoc=US
Some of us who run standard or dyno hubs use the threaded sockes to store spare bolts/machine screws. George (mickeg) used his to store spare SPD cleat bolts, as I recall. I do the same. On a spare pair of forks fitted to another bike, I used the bracket to secure a B&M USB charging unit. Very tidy, it looked made for the task! On another Thorn fork, I am in-process making a spork mount to go on those same bosses. Screws threaded in from the reverse side, wing-nuts with beeswax on the threads and a homemade stainless clip to guard against rattling loose.
Quote
... I thought that it would never be used...Think of the possibilities!
Best, Dan.
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Lighting and Electronics / Re: Thorn Sherpa bottle dynamo lug
« Last post by Andyb1 on April 10, 2026, 05:55:00 PM »My previous bike! I nearly cut that bracket off as I thought that it would never be used - as you say I think it is for a bottle dynamo and perhaps a headlamp.
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Lighting and Electronics / Thorn Sherpa bottle dynamo lug
« Last post by Fourpanniers on April 10, 2026, 04:01:36 PM »I'm assuming that the double-threaded upper lug on the right hand fork of a Thorn Sherpa is for a bottle dynamo. If so, that would mean the dynamo fits behind the brakes/fork and is a "right side" dynamo fitting. Am I right in all this?
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Non-Thorn Related / Re: ++++Rides of 2026++++Add yours here++++
« Last post by Andre Jute on April 10, 2026, 12:06:38 PM »John wrote: "60-kph gusts".
The water looks pretty choppy in your photograph. Difficult to imagine the net temp being over 8 degrees. Hope you weren't wearing shorts. That would be too brave.
Love the ice floes.
The water looks pretty choppy in your photograph. Difficult to imagine the net temp being over 8 degrees. Hope you weren't wearing shorts. That would be too brave.
Love the ice floes.
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Non-Thorn Related / Re: ++++Rides of 2026++++Add yours here++++
« Last post by John Saxby on April 10, 2026, 01:34:34 AM »First ride of 2026 
Today, five-plus months since my last ride along the Ottawa River, I made my first ride of 2026. (Errands for groceries on my city bike don’t really count.) This was a brief mid-day aller-retour, just 45 minutes north to the river, west along the bikepath to Deschênes Lookout, then assemble in reverse order But, it was a chance to see what’s going on with the big river, and to check a couple of adjustments made over the winter months.
We’ve had an Olde Tyme Winter, with above-average snowfall (about 260 cms), and lots of cold days and nights. (The Rideau Canal, our 14-km skating rink through the middle of town, was open for 56 days – two seasons ago, it was closed for lack of good ice.) But today, we had mixed sun and cloud, and the late-morning temp was 10º. So I carried Freddie up from my basement workshop, covered myself with mild-weather gear, and set off for the river. There was a brisk westerly a-blowing, the 60-kph gusts a foretaste of a serious spring snowstorm further north. 8th gear was the best I could do on my outbound leg, but I sailed along in 11th and 12th on the return journey.
The snow cover is almost all gone, but the soil and vegetation now appearing are all brown and yellow, with the evergreens—firs and cedars—offering the only greenery. The colours are muted, sky, water and earth. But there were signs of the spring to come: a couple of plump Canada geese in the water (they must have wintered in Ottawa – the migrants are usually a bit scrawny); and then, when I reached home, the unmistakable and magical sound overhead of a wing of geese honking as they headed towards the river.
Freddie was relaxed, comfortable and unfussed as ever, and drew a glance or two from pedestrians when I paused for photos beside the river. (#s 1 & 2 below.) A small stream joins the big river beside the lookout, the small inlet bordered by bare trees and still harbouring a few ice floes. (#s 3 & 4 below.)
Reaching home, I made a couple of micro-adjustments to improve the tweaks made during the winter: easing the rear of the saddle down a couple of mm, and tilting the nose up a similar amount; and rotating the bars upward a couple of mm, so that the flats are now fractionally “uphill”. A test ride told me that the micro-adjustments did the necessary. It's always remarkable how such those small changes improve a rider's comfort -- in this case, of my bottom, and my wrists, hands, and forearms.
Today, five-plus months since my last ride along the Ottawa River, I made my first ride of 2026. (Errands for groceries on my city bike don’t really count.) This was a brief mid-day aller-retour, just 45 minutes north to the river, west along the bikepath to Deschênes Lookout, then assemble in reverse order But, it was a chance to see what’s going on with the big river, and to check a couple of adjustments made over the winter months.
We’ve had an Olde Tyme Winter, with above-average snowfall (about 260 cms), and lots of cold days and nights. (The Rideau Canal, our 14-km skating rink through the middle of town, was open for 56 days – two seasons ago, it was closed for lack of good ice.) But today, we had mixed sun and cloud, and the late-morning temp was 10º. So I carried Freddie up from my basement workshop, covered myself with mild-weather gear, and set off for the river. There was a brisk westerly a-blowing, the 60-kph gusts a foretaste of a serious spring snowstorm further north. 8th gear was the best I could do on my outbound leg, but I sailed along in 11th and 12th on the return journey.
The snow cover is almost all gone, but the soil and vegetation now appearing are all brown and yellow, with the evergreens—firs and cedars—offering the only greenery. The colours are muted, sky, water and earth. But there were signs of the spring to come: a couple of plump Canada geese in the water (they must have wintered in Ottawa – the migrants are usually a bit scrawny); and then, when I reached home, the unmistakable and magical sound overhead of a wing of geese honking as they headed towards the river.
Freddie was relaxed, comfortable and unfussed as ever, and drew a glance or two from pedestrians when I paused for photos beside the river. (#s 1 & 2 below.) A small stream joins the big river beside the lookout, the small inlet bordered by bare trees and still harbouring a few ice floes. (#s 3 & 4 below.)
Reaching home, I made a couple of micro-adjustments to improve the tweaks made during the winter: easing the rear of the saddle down a couple of mm, and tilting the nose up a similar amount; and rotating the bars upward a couple of mm, so that the flats are now fractionally “uphill”. A test ride told me that the micro-adjustments did the necessary. It's always remarkable how such those small changes improve a rider's comfort -- in this case, of my bottom, and my wrists, hands, and forearms.
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Bikes For Sale / Re: Sherpa 535L
« Last post by steveparry on April 09, 2026, 06:17:47 PM »I've pm'd you.
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Bikes For Sale / Re: Sherpa 535L
« Last post by RMS on April 09, 2026, 04:14:52 PM »interested. Can I try for size please? I am 5'7.
Liverpool based. Need a bike with rim brakes for bike trailer.
Thanks
Liverpool based. Need a bike with rim brakes for bike trailer.
Thanks
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Cycle Tours / Re: Tentative Tour, London, Edinburgh, John O'Groats
« Last post by mickeg on April 06, 2026, 08:11:18 PM »That said, I have no clue what one stone weighs.My last two years of school plus university were during the main changeover from imperial to metric units. I can think in both and sometimes mix them such as 2 metres of 2" x 1" timber. A stone is 14 lbs (pounds) ie 6.36kg. Look in the shops and you will find items which weigh 0.454kg which is 1lb expressed in kg.
Our road signs never changed to km when the country nominally went metric. The official reason was probably that it would cause too much confusion although I suspect that cost was also a consideration. Some of our old road signs are cast iron so not easily modified (see https://www.countrylife.co.uk/out-and-about/in-focus-fingerposts-and-what-they-mean-235335 for some examples). Petrol is sold in litres while draught beer is still sold in pints and half pints although bottles and cans are labeled in millilitres which are sometimes round numbers and sometimes the ml equivalent of a pint. At least we've moved on from 12 pennies in a shilling and 20 shillings in a pound (the money pound (£), not the weight pound) along with some other financial delights such as the half crown and the guinea. The new penny (which doesn't buy much these days is worth 2.4 of the old pennies).
QuoteI have no clue what one stone weighs
Quaint customs they have in Foggie Olde, eh George? Well, of course it depends...on how big the stone is, and what type of stone it's made of, innit? So many variables... But some Unassailable Authority once upon a time decreed that one stone = 14 lbs.
My experience sez it ain't so: We lived in Salisbury when I was a kid, and would have picnics at Stonehenge. I flatly refused to believe that one stone there = 14 lbs, and nothing I've seen or heard since has convinced me otherwise.
As a geological engineer, to me a stone weighs the same as it would weigh if you instead called it a rock. And a rock has no standardized weight.
A pint of stout, is that pint 20 oz or 16 oz? In USA it is 16 oz. But Google also tells me that ounces in USA are different than UK ounces. I choose to be ignorant of more details than that.