Hi,
As a long time owner of a Thorn Cub Tour, circa 2000, I've been an occasional visitor here for a number of years. I've just finished putting together my take on a do-it-all bike, built around a MK IV Club Tour frame and I thought it was about time I joined in. I'm recently retired and I live in London.
I purchased the the CT Mk IV frame as a near new complete donor bike to get the project rolling. The frame has the 853 fork and has full V's front and rear. I toyed with the idea of a rear disc but for the moment the V brake provides more than enough stopping power to lock up the rear wheel and I love the simplicity of V brakes. At present it's in fast road mode, mudguardless with DRC ST19 rims and 28mm Scwalbe Ultremo ZX tyres. The original Mavic wheelset will be used for light touring and unsurfaced tracks, with a rear rack and 32 mm or 37mm Vittoria Hypers.
The V brakes operate through Tektro BR520 levers and gear shifting (9X3) is through Shimano bar ends. I originally experimented running the bar ends mounted on the brake levers using Revoshift (now Gevenalle) bosses, but the cabling interfered with my bar bag so I reverted to the bar end position with the cables routed all the way beneath the bar tape. I've solved similar bar bag/cabling issues on another bike that has 9 speed Shimano Dura Ace washing line brifters by using brake pipe noodles to route the cables out of the way. I'm thinking that I might try Kelly Take off's, which I see SJS now stock.
Future plans include a front dynamo hub wheel build and I also have a pair of NOS mavic open Pro ceramic rims which will replace the DRC ST19 wheelset for light road use.
