Thorn Raven Nomad mk3 frame breather holes?

[martinf]

Breather holes have the advantage that you can treat the insides of more tubes with an anti-corrosion product. This probably isn't necessary on most Thorn frames, which are usually treated before delivery.

And, if you wish, you can "seal" them afterwards to slow/stop water entry. I generally use window sealant, as I have this around for other jobs.

I currently treat frames I acquire (usually second-hand) with AC50 spray, then block the holes in small tubes with window sealant after leaving the frame/forks to dry for several days.

Seat tubes and head tubes/steerers need occasional checking, as water can get in around the seatpost or stem (in my experience, more often with Aheadset type steerers), but these two areas are relatively easy to access and treat.

[Andyb1]

If a frame has holes at the top of the stays it would seem logical to occasionally park it upside down to ensure no moisture inside……and at the same time remove the seatpost.

My NOS Raven forks have holes at the bottom and before fitting I squirted a little ACF50 in and left them upside down overnight before fitting.  Can’t do any harm

[mickeg]

My errand bike is a 1994 Bridgestone MB-6.  It has a lot of breather holes.  It was stored outside for over a decade before I bought it.  I took everything off the frame to try to make it a functional bike again.  There was a lot of rust inside the frame, but the frame was still sound.  I sprayed a lot of Frame Saver into the frame to try to stop any further rusting.  Put it back together again with some new parts and expendables.

And proceeded to store it outside for another half decade.  But now it is stored inside. 

It has not seen any lasting damage.

That said, I have seen on this forum photos of rust perforations in some of the older UK made frames.  And I recall one person had a rusted out downtube on an S&S coupled Thorn where water got into the downtube but only flowed down to the coupler where it accumulated until a rust perforation allowed it to drain.  When I saw that on this forum, I was quite happy that I had put the frame saver into that particular tube on my Nomad Mk II. 

I do question the logic of a breather hole up high, not down low on a seatstay.