Nice Sherpa for sale on FB

[SteveM]

Joe is selling this nice Sherpa.  Looks solid.  Too small for me.  Would suit someone around 5’6” - 5’9”
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/8798144073560316/

I have no interest other than I wanted to buy it myself.

Seller contacts

joeparkerr64@gmail.com
0748129169

[flocsy]

Hi,

I had a closer look at the bike (unfortunately only on FB). And something seems odd to me. This is how seat-stay attachment on the bike on FB looks (red arrows):

And anywhere else (old brochures of Sherpa from the time machine, and any other pictures of Sherpas I could find on the net) it looks like this (green arrows):

Was there ever such Sherpa? If yes then what year can it be?

I also attach the picture of the whole bike from FB, maybe someone can't see it on FB.

[Danneaux]

Flocsy,

I've attached a photo of the double-socketed dropouts on my 2011 Sherpa Mk2.

That said, I would imagine the eBay example was either an early model or was subject to supply-chain issues at the time of build. The dropout-chainstay connection is the one I've seen most likely to fracture (if it happens) and the unsocketed seatstay connection allows the dropout to be used on a variety of seat tube sizes/lengths, making it a bit more universal. In my hobbyist framebuilding, I've sourced both styles of dropouts (plus others) and have never experienced a problem with breakage.

Best, Dan.

[mickeg]

Mine looks like Dan's, I bought my frame and fork used in 2010, thus I do not know when mine was new.

[flocsy]

I thought that maybe this might not even be a real Sherpa frame. Maybe the previous owner sold it "rebranded" as such by adding a sticker. But maybe I'm a bit too paranoid

[Danneaux]

Flocsy,

I'll go out on a limb here and speculate this is an original Sherpa (making it effectively a Mk1), rather than the Mk2 George and I have/had.

One tipoff is the glossy grey/black paint. As I recall, the Mk2 was only available in gloss red and matte black.

Also, while the dropouts pictured on this one lack the upper sockets, they also appear to have only a single eyelet for co-locating the rack mounting stay and mudguard stays on a common bolt.

Certainly, the frame features look authentic -- the fastback attachment of the seatstays to the seat lug, the lack of a clamp reinforcement band, the presence of a threaded cable stop bridge, and fork/crown look right with the proper tubing content sticker. Component selection (if original, likely so) points to this being a late Mk1/original Sherpa.

You may wish to review the Wayback Machine archive I started for original Sherpa brochures and reviews. Unfortunately, many have been removed from the server after so long and have become unavailable for download/viewing since I posted the links, but there is still some info. Note this would be for the Sherpa as distinct from the Sherpa Mk2.

Hoping this helps and remember, much is based on familiarity with my past Mk2 ownership and also on inference from the information still available. I do feel confident this is an authentic Thorn Sherpa, but most likely an "older" one. The stamped serial on the underside of the bottom bracket would tell for sure, as the format is pretty standard across the Thorn product line.

Best, Dan.

EDIT: Apologies! I forgot the link to the archive: http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=6975.0 I'll speculate further and say based on website archives, specs and photos, the Sherpa pictured most likely dates from about 2003-2010, but the components tip me more toward late in this first-generation Sherpa product run.

[PH]

I'm not very familiar with Sherpas.  All four of the Thorn frames I've owned (Raven Tour, Mercury, Mercury MK3, Nomad MK3) have had dropouts like the one advertised with a single socket on the chainstay and a cut in seatstay.   So there's no reason to suspect Thorn haven't used that method of construction, or that it's in any way inferior.

[mickeg]

I had a note to myself on my hard drive from some previous posts years ago that my Sherpa was probably a Mk II.  Based on comments by others at the time, the Mk I had Reynolds tubing, Mk III lost the pump peg.

It is my recollection that Thorn sprayed clear coat over the decals, thus a rebadged from from some other source should be easy to spot.

Mine is matt black.

Not the best photo, but it shows my chainstay.  (Mud was formerly part of the GAP or C&O trails.)

[flocsy]

I already did my research on the Wayback Machine, but even the earliest Sherpas there have 2 eylets and double-socketed dropouts.

The serial number according to the owner is 535L03020 so the 535L also supports that it's an early version, not sure if the rest of the numbers give anything away.

BTW maybe it's worth to save the pdf-s on the forum's server to make sure they're not removed from archive.org and lost forever.

[PH]

Here's another one in that style, so it isn't unique, even though it's certainly less common
http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=1732.0