Sydney Nomad

[in4]

Spotted in Manly  near the delightful beach. Is there such a thing as Bike Stalking!?

[Danneaux]

Is there such a thing as Bike Stalking!?

A photo of a Thorn In The Wild With Owner is rare here.

Perhaps we'll hear from the owner. Er...I hope that's the owner and not a theft-in-progress...! 

All the best,

Dan.

[rualexander]

Nicely faded set of Ortliebs there, must have covered a fair few miles in sunny climes.

[jags]

he's a cyclist ok shorts /shoes.socks 
bike looks cool in all that lovely weather.

anto.

[Slammin Sammy]

It wasn't me. How do I know?

1) Although I live a couple of hours north, from memory, I haven't been to Manly in years. Lovely spot, though!

2) He looks much younger than me, and has hair   .

3) I have just this week put my Nomad back on the road after the third full rebuild of both wheels due to, you guessed it, exploding spoke syndrome! (For those that haven't been following, I have been plagued by bad black Sapim Race spokes that recrystallise and break in the middle, often in bunches.) The last batch lasted 18 months and then went all at once, five in the rear on a ride, and four in the front while sitting in the garage waiting for replacements to arrive! When they were removed, they broke like popsicle sticks, brittle with no capacity to bend. I have replaced them with DT Swiss (same configuration, black double butted, 2.0-1.8-2.0), so we'll see. I took the opportunity to replace the drivetrain and correct a few mistakes I made in the original build back in 2013. I'll post these separately.

Back to the Manly rider (or actually, walker - He's probably walking his bike because he's not wearing a helmet and the current fine for that in the anti-cycling state of NSW is $A330). Besides faded panniers, the other clue to the bike being well used is the Brooks saddle. I don't think I've ever seen one that sagged!

I know of only one other yellow Nomad in NSW, and it's about 700km north of here. I'm sure there could be others.

[John Saxby]

Hey, Sam, good to hear from you!--I was getting worried.

Hoping to increase the Thorn population of Down Unda temporarily by one, this coming Jan-Feb-March. The plan is to take Osi the Raven to SE Queensland for 2 months in the new year. Those hills in the QLD/NSW border ranges require something lower than the 20 gear-inches on my derailleur bike. And, I think I'll need my chainglider to keep the ravages of the sand at bay. Just a few weeks of use last Feb/March wrecked the chain on my Eclipse.

Best to you, Kat, and all the boikes,

John

[Slammin Sammy]

Thanks very much John, and likewise to you and yours!

I've been scarce on the Thorn forum because I've mostly been Bromptoning and Facebooking. Kav and I spent seven wonderful weeks in the UK, Ireland, France, Belgium and Holland in May and June, riding self-supported on a Brompton "credit card tour". They are truly fantastic bikes for that sort of thing. We used just about every mode of travel, from overnight ferry to train to taxi, and rode over 1,000 km on the little bikes that could.

I'm now preparing for a two week rail trail tour in October in southern Queensland with a mate, and Kav and I are also planning to return to the border region (Byron Bay, Kingscliff, Murwillumbah) for about a week sometime before the end of the year. Then in March, we're planning on riding in New Zealand with our Canadian friends from Alberta.

Please let us know when you touch down. There's always room for another ride! 😄