Author Topic: An old Thorn Nomad ... Wobble?  (Read 2768 times)

RubberTramp

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An old Thorn Nomad ... Wobble?
« on: June 11, 2017, 03:34:51 PM »
Hello there.. Im cycling my way around Europe and i'm a couple days in at the moment and have found that my front end wobbles very heavily as soon as I take my hands from the bars.. is there any suggestions for me to stop this from happening?

I have 60L of luggage in ortlieb bags on the rear thron rack, a frame bag with a kilo of luggage and my 1kg sleeping bag strapped to the handlebars.

Would help to get a front top loading rack for the bag? I suppose i should of checked this before leaving the UK, I originally bought the bike thinking it could handle loads front & rear?


RubberTramp

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Re: An old Thorn Nomad ... Wobble?
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2017, 03:48:39 PM »



I did take a video but unsure how to get that on here.. it's very bad wobble unable to take hands off bars really nomatter the speed. :) any help much apreciated !

silverdorking

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Re: An old Thorn Nomad ... Wobble?
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2017, 04:29:53 PM »
Not an answer to your problem I realise but an observation. My Sports Tour is twitchy when naked and it takes a bit of balance to ride hands off. However with sleeping bag, air bed and pillow in panniers on either side of my front low loaders it is a far more subdued ride!

mickeg

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Re: An old Thorn Nomad ... Wobble?
« Reply #3 on: June 11, 2017, 04:41:09 PM »
Is there some reason that you need to ride without hands on the handlebars?  I never ride that way.  My two Thorns (Nomad Mk II and Sherpa) ride nearly shimmy free, both unladen and with a full load of camping gear.

I have had a shimmy problem on another bike that I got rid of that was quite bad, but that was with my hands on the handlebars.

You called it a wobble, is it a oscillation where it wants to go back and forth?  Or does it just pull to one side? 

Pavel

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Re: An old Thorn Nomad ... Wobble?
« Reply #4 on: June 11, 2017, 05:01:58 PM »
is the headset properly snug and the wheel true with no problem in the bearings like side to side play?  Just a long shot.

I think sometimes tires can cause a bit of a shimmy and on my nomad, while I don't ride without hands, I'd sure like to be able to because that shows me a bike that needs little attention to go in a straight line.  With that in mind, I find the steering too light on my Nomad until I put racks, panniers and a few pounds on the front.  It acts like a damper and significantly changes the feel of the steering.  The Nomad is designed to ride optimally while carrying a decent (or insane) load. Where you have the load causes the opposite due to how high it rides and the fact that bikepacks always have some play in how they attach, so they would not dampen the occilantions the same way, in my mind, and I can see how they could even enhance that sensation.

One easy test is to take all the luggage off and see if the problem does not go away.  If it does, then maybe re-distributing the load could perhaps solve this?  Those guesses are about all I can think of.  Good luck.

Oh, and I take it that there is no tire sealant used in your tubes?