Great, as per bl**dy usual. After nearly 3 years obsessive yearning, pining over the online brochure, a visit to Taunton (a cruelly apposite name for a place) to introduce my wife to the competitor for my affections and damned hard saving I got a Catalyst in February. At which the 'Catalyst mk. 2' is announced, at a saving of £200 based on the previously quoted frame price.
Besides the obvious great qualities of the Catalyst one of the most compelling reasons for buying a Thorn was that they were so well designed from the outset that new models were not released annually with minor tweaks and marginal performance enhancements intended to induce the need to upgrade.
The Sterling does sound very appealing, and I may well have gone for it had it been available so I'd like to try and assure myself that I did not spend rashly.
Why the cheaper frame price? The material is not stated, so I'm hoping that it isn't 853, which would explain some of the difference (the decals don't look like 853).
As stated longer chainstays may make the Sterling handle a little less sharply off road and the Catalyst is pretty sweet in that regard. I'm not the fastest on single track, so am not convinced that stacks up to justify the difference, you are paying more for less material on the Cat after all.
The great idea behind the Sterling is that over time it can be developed into a whole stable of bikes with costs spread and storage space minimised (no garage, see).
Change and innovation are inevitable and I can't expect a company to stagnate for my benefit but it is a tad disappointing, as is the realisation that at heart I'm as conservative as my old man. Shares in Northern Rock anyone?
