Me'n'U2 for sale - Looking for £1500.

I am new to this forum. Please forgive me for joining mainly as a way to  advertise a bike for sale, but I thought the members here might find it of some interest.

I have been the owner of the prototype Me'n'U2 for over 20 years, though sadly had little reason to use it for the last 15 or so, as my children grew up.  I kept it with thoughts of grandchildren but as that seems unlikely I really cannot hang on to this rather unique bike any longer.

I understand the bike was hand built by Robin Thorn and his team in Bridgewater.  They used Reynolds 531 for the frame and a mixture of Shimano components , mostly around the Deore LX standard.  When I bought the bike second-hand from SJS, the new price of the production versions was around £2k but Robin estimated he would have priced this one-off prototype bike around £3k new. 

It has drop handle bars up front, with bar-end shifters, friction 3-speed chain ring and indexed 8-speed derailleur.

V-brakes front and back with a cable multiplier used on the rear.  There is  drum brake operated by the pilot which I found extremely useful and makes long descents safe and controlled.

It's a lovely bike to ride and once you're over about 5-6 mph it feels like my own solo. Trying to make sharp turns at low speeds is a little weird at first as the long wheel base gives you (the pilot) a slight sense of going sideways, so needs a bit of practice.   The drop handle-bars suited me, being similar to my other bikes. It's quite wide but that makes things feel very safe. The bar-end shifted work well and easily changed when riding in lower position, though aren't really an issue to get to when on the hoods.  Having a choice of hand position was certainly a benefit to me.

We had holidays in UK, Netherlands and Denmark using this bike, often carrying camping gear, and I can truly say the bike is a joy.  It does feel heavier going up hills, but I would then turn on "turbo-power" with a little encouragement to the kids, usually involving the promise of ice-cream.

Other notable features are the special adaptations made for a range of rider sizes. My youngest was a fairly short 4yo when we first got the bike, and could only just reach handle bars and peddles.   Robin was a true star and supplied us with additional cranks, so this bike will come with both double and triple drilled options to suit a wide range of requirements.

Robin also made a unique (well, I've not seen another) false seat post. This bracket bolts onto the top bar and allows you to place the standard handle-bar parts closer to the rear child (or the middle if that was necessary for you). This brings the handle bar back to a comfortable (safe) reach.

There two sets of peddles for the rear, which I selected for their foot sizes rather than anything else. A good fitting peddle, with secure toe-straps are essential as they really equate to the seatbelts in a car.  I used to swap my solo bike peddles over whenever we used the Me'n'U2, so these are not part of the offer.

There is a rear pannier rack (photographed on its own as I forgot to reattach when I took the main set of photos). There are braze-on's for a front rack , but the low- rider rack I used is not included.

Although the components are perhaps from a  earlier age, they work well and are all in pretty good condition. The paint work is still good, and to my eyes a lovely deep green colour.  There are a couple of small scratches here and there, none in and prominent locations and you should not equate the age of the bike to any notion of how worn it might be. It has been looked after.  I can detail all defects to anyone interested in taking this further.

The bike is located in Scotland, just outside Edinburgh. However, I occasionally have reason to drive to Bristol and would be willing to come to some arrangement find a suitable meeting spot with you.  This would require a fairly firm commitment to buy and is not aimed about offering trial demonstrations.

PS -struggling to attach photos - will add more when I learn how!

I still have the original Andra 30 rims on my Raven Tour, which I use for load carrying and cycle-camping They have the CSS coating so they haven't worn much. If I ever need to replace them I will probably go for something wider, because I use 50 mm tyres. I have wider rims on my utility bike and most of the other 26" bikes I have built up, Ryde Andra 40 or similar.

I had lighter Mavic 717 rims on my previous tourer, again with 50 mm tyres. I did damage the rear rim on a heavily laden tour (all up weight 112-123 kg depending on the amount of food and water I carried), when I hit a pothole at about 50-60 km/h on a mountain descent. I replaced it with a wider Weinmann Alesa rim when I got home. The front rim lasted for 10,500 kms before it wore out and I replaced it with another Mavic 717.

When I got my Raven Sport Tour frameset in 2016 I fitted the Mavic 717 front wheel off my old tourer. Mavic 717 wasn't easy to find in 26", so for the rear wheel I got a DT Swiss 535 rim, which seems similar. I have 42 mm tyres on this bike, and use it for day rides with just a saddlebag, very occasionally for lightweight touring with rear panniers only. DT Swiss 535 rims are still available in 26" and 32/36H drillings, at least from German web shops, there is even a special reinforced version for E-bikes but I don't know if the latter is available in 32H.

Andra 30 and Andra 40 can/could be had with the drillings for Rohloff. This isn't the case for DT Swiss 535 rims, but it hasn't been a problem so far on my Raven Sport Tour. 

Thanks very much, Tony - that's great!

Long time since I've had 26" wheels, but the Halo White Line Classic is my go to in 700c for rim brake touring and I'm a good bit heavier than you.  The 26" size is I think around 500g, available silver, black/silver and black/black, the latter has a black brake track but is still sold as a rim brake rim, not sure how that works. 
I broke two flanges in ten years, then none in the fifteen years since, one of my hubs is without rings, the others have had rings from new. I suspect either the hubs or the wheel-building have improved, though it may just be luck. I doubt you'll notice the weight of the rings on the hub, it's not like weight on the rim.  They might get you out of trouble one day, or you might never need them.  Thorn's ex workshop manager advised not to fit them unless rebuilding the wheel anyway, but to do so if/when I was.

Hope the attached pdf is readable, size matrix for Raven Tour and Sport Tour,