Thorn Nomad XXXL

[geocycle]

Would the owner of this Thorn Nomad XXXL in tonka yellow please step forward .  Spotted on Greenhow Hill North Yorkshire.

[Danneaux]

 

Special project as Thorn explore the fat bike market segment...

Well spotted, Geo'!

Best,

Dan.

[mickeg]

A photo of my Sherpa, but my tires look a bit skimpy compared to the one behind it.

[geocycle]

Ah, thanks for the photo of the sherpa, they clearly do the XXXL in green as well!

[jul]

Nice bike Mickeg !

We can see the XXL length head tube 

Which wheels did you choose ?  the bike seems loaded ...

As well, what is the type of your front rack ?  it looks very cute.

[mickeg]

Nice bike Mickeg !

We can see the XXL length head tube 

Which wheels did you choose ?  the bike seems loaded ...

As well, what is the name of your small front rack ?  it looks very cute.

That is a size 610S Sherpa, thus the tall headtube.

Wheels - Shimano XT M760 (steel axle) hubs front and rear, Salsa Gordo rims and Wheelsmith DB-14 spokes.  I built the wheels myself.  I do not know if the Salsa Gordo rims were ever sold in UK or not, I think that Salsa no longer makes them.  The rims are a perfect width for tires in the 40 to 50mm width range, very happy with them.  The tires on the bike in the photo are the Marathons (with Greenguard), width 40mm or 1.5.

Front rack that is mounted on the cantilever brake posts is sold by Nashbar, they are a discount retailer in USA.  Sunlite makes a very similar rack too.  I would not want to put more than a few kg on the rack, but it is handy for a few small items like rain gear or an extra water bottle or two, etc.  The lowrider rack I have on the bike is the Tubus Ergo.

This photo may show the racks better since there are no panniers on the bike for this one.  I had an orange polartec vest on earlier in the day, that is on the small front rack in this photo.

[jul]

Your rack can't to be installed on my Nomad, because my V brake are of opposite side..

However i found this beautiful Surly Rack, it looks very strong !

[mickeg]

RackTime makes a TopIt rack that mounts on the low rider mounting points too.  Some people have used that rack for small panniers instead of using a low rider rack.
https://www.rei.com/product/852184/racktime-top-it-front-bike-rack

Someone on this forum a few months ago had the light mounting bracket on their new bike (I think it was a Raven) pull out of the steerer tube.  For that reason, I suspect it would be best if mounting such a rack on a Thorn to mount the upper bracket on the fender mounting point under the steerer tube instead of on the light mounting point if you planned to put much weight on it.  The TopIt rack is rated for about 10 kg.

[jul]

I'm not planning to carry so much weight on this rack, just some extras ! i would like to combine with the Thorn genuine front rack.

[mickeg]

I'm not planning to carry so much weight on this rack.. i would like to combine with the Thorn genuine front rack.

I have no idea where the best deal would be, the Nashbar ones are cheap in USA but shipping out of USA could be expensive.  The similar Sunlite ones may or may not be available, I do not know.  I have a Sunlite one that mounting brackets were not correctly made, I had to bend them to fit properly.  There are several others out there that cost substantially more.

If you have a Nomad MK II or similar front fork where the cantilever posts are on the back instead of the front, that however would be a deal breaker for these racks.  In that case you would have to use the low rider rack mounting points and would need one of the larger racks designed for that mounting.  As you could see on the photo on my Sherpa, a cantilever mounting rack fits rather nice on the cantilever posts on the front.

The Nashbar and Sunlight racks have a sheet metal plate that I think is much more convenient than a rack that has bars for a platform, as the bars would make it difficult to use to strap on something loose, like clothing.

I have never seen this one that SJS sells, so I have no opinion on it, other than that it might not be that great for strapping loose stuff like clothing to it compared to a rack with a sheet metal base that gives a better support for your load.
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/carriers-racks/alloy-front-carrier-cantilever-boss-mounting-black-alloy/?geoc=US