No change from thorn

[jags]

Andre i'd be looking for the hawthorne bush to be honest
nothing wrong with bike stands they work well my friend bikepacker has one on his  bob jackson no problem Koga has them on there bikes but im a weight weeney ,i guess it's riding lightweight bikes all my life.

anto.

[geocycle]

Andre i'd be looking for the hawthorne bush to be honest
nothing wrong with bike stands they work well my friend bikepacker has one on his  bob jackson no problem Koga has them on there bikes but im a weight weeney ,i guess it's riding lightweight bikes all my life.

anto.

I'm no weight weenie but I also haven't really seen the need for a stand on my thorn.  There always seems to be a wall or tree around here when you need it.  I suppose if I had one I'd probably use it all the time. I do use a stand on my folder when scooting around the market as stall holders get nervous about you resting against their canopies.

[Mike Ayling]

Some years ago my husband contacted Thorn to see if they would do a bike with a Rohloff + disc brake on the back and a caliper on the front, as he wanted the better back brake combined with the comfort of a standard fork. Their negative reply was condescending to the point of rudeness.

He is now building up his order for just such a bike.....but it won't be a Mercury from Thorn! 

I find the rear Avid cable disc brake on my Mercury very ordinary and would have been quite happy with a V brake on the rear as well as the front.
Other than that the Mercury is a great bike!

Mike

[DAntrim]

I'm not surprised Thorn changed their mind over front disc's as it has become a reliable system, and personally refuse to buy a bike if it doesn't have full disc's, and now own both the Club Tour and the Mercury.

[Donerol]

Some years ago my husband contacted Thorn to see if they would do a bike with a Rohloff + disc brake on the back and a caliper on the front, as he wanted the better back brake combined with the comfort of a standard fork. Their negative reply was condescending to the point of rudeness.

He is now building up his order for just such a bike.....but it won't be a Mercury from Thorn! 

I find the rear Avid cable disc brake on my Mercury very ordinary and would have been quite happy with a V brake on the rear as well as the front.
Other than that the Mercury is a great bike!

Mike

He wanted a disc brake on the back because he was wearing through his rear rim each year, the result of commuting all year round including on dirty, gritted winter roads.  He is currently using a Genesis Croix de Fer (now about 8 years old) and is still on the original rims, but finds the stiff straight front fork quite uncomfortable on our poor surfaces.

[mickeg]

I built up a new bike from the frame this past spring from a (non-Thorn) Titanium frame that did not have a fork included.  The frame was disc only, so I obviously had to put a disc on the back.  For the front, instead of buying the recommended fork for $300 USD I planned to use a fork that I already owned that was a rim brake only type of fork. 

The result is a touring bike that is V brake front, disc rear.  I find that the rim brake on front outperforms the rear disc when I really have to rapidly decelerate, but if it is just slowing down slightly the two brakes are comparable.  Am using Koolstop Salmon pads on front with a non-CSS rim, the rear brake is a TRP Spyre with stock pads, stock rotor, and compression-less cable housing.  But, in the wet (rain) I find that I prefer the disc over the rim brake.

Before you tell my that I am judging my brakes wrong because the front is always better, I find it hard to apply enough disc brake to make the rear wheel lockup and skid.  I did run in the rear disc brake when new in accordance with the manufacturers recommendations.

Regarding wearing out rims, I am quite pleased with the CSS impregnation on the rims on my Nomad.  The braking is less effective than when new, about the same as most non-CSS rims I use.  But if my CSS rims get to the point that others have complained about with limited stopping capability, instead of following the instructions to only use CSS pads, I will switch to softer pads to see if that resolves the issue.

[martinf]

He wanted a disc brake on the back because he was wearing through his rear rim each year, the result of commuting all year round including on dirty, gritted winter roads.

With decent brake pads and cables I find the rim brakes on my bikes are powerful enough to lock the wheels in the rain, even on my Bromptons, so I don't really need any increase in braking power.

Rim wear is adequate for me in most cases, with two exceptions:

- the 16" rims on my Bromptons, which wear quickly with winter commuting.
- the 26" rims I used for my 2011 Spain trip. These were relatively light Mavic rims, available quickly from my LBS, but not really the best choice for loaded touring in mountainous areas. So I took the advice of SJS cycles and had Andra 30 CSS rims fitted on my Raven Tour.

Not yet used disc brakes on a bicycle, but from my experience using drum, coaster and roller brakes I reckon a rear disc brake would also keep the chain cleaner than a rim brake (not an issue with a Chainglider). Disc brakes would also eliminate rim heating on long descents, but I suppose this problem is replaced by brake fade when the disc gets hot.

I can see the argument for not using a disc on the front - with a disc all the braking force is concentrated close to the fork end and on one side, so the fork can't be made as flexible.