Ultimate day rider. New Club Tour

[smithhaddon123]

My homebuilt Club Tour!  I knocked up the design in BikeCAD to nail the frame size and kitted it out with the parts from its predecessor (a beautiful, ultimately unsuccessful, blindingly expensive made to measure machine made from Columbus Life steel tubing; sad, sad tale).

This is the finest ride I've ever had and is my only bike.  Size 610S.  Super long 195mm crank for my 93cm/36½" inseam from Zinn Cycles, USA.  The fork is the Thorn MER853VC, which was resprayed for the last machine, hence why it doesn't match.  Lovely Brooks Team Pro Imperial saddle.  The 140mm stem's a bit longer than conventional and could suggest the 610L frame with shorter stem might be better, but handling is superb and I prefer the ride of the slacker head angle of the S; better for British roads. 

The frame handles the long cranks with aplomb thanks to its long chainstays.  The ground clearance is tight and there's half an inch of toe overlap but I'm well used to that.  This will do me for life. 

If there's one thing I'd change it would be the brakes.  Beastly V brakes were simply what I had!  Give me cantis any day.  Perhaps I'll have me a new set of levers, a couple of brake hangers and a set of Avid cantis for it one day. 

Ben

[PH]

Looks great, I quite like the miss matched fork, it seems to go well with the stem and bar tape.  Not so keen on the cables and blue bell, looks too much to me, but tastes differ....
What is it you don't like about the V brakes?  There's another thread running where someone is thinking of changing to them?  They're usually considered to be better than cantis, which is also my experience.  Which reminds me, I have some IRD Cafam mid profiles sat somewhere in a draw,  from when I changed the other way, I'll dig them out and put them on the for sale board...

[jags]

wow great looking bike could not fault it.
those tyres look great  what size are they?
i had paul cantis on my sherpa  koolstop salmon  blocks no problem stopping .shimano 105 are fantastic but not sure they will work with you set up you know better that me.
i have the new Tiagra brakes on my audax work great no problems but the 105 on my road bike a way better.
anyway enjoy that beauty  keep her clean.

anto.

[Pavel]

I've long thought that the R&B color scheme of the Club Tour would be the one I'd buy if ever I were to get a Club Tour but your's is the third example of Gunmetal taken in the real world where it shows how beautiful the color is.  I think it would now be my choice. 

I too think hat the forks look great with the bike, especially with the choice of bar tape.  Very nice.

I'm between several choices of frame soon, to put unused parts to use.  The club tour and the Surly long haul trucker are the two most likely.  The surly would come to half the price of the Club Tour, but despite that it's still a tight contest.   My number one criterion for what I want in the ultimate handling quality is a bike that wants to go straight.  I realize that it's not a likely add campaign - "rides like a slow long keeled boat" but that's what I want and can't find.  You haven't by chance had the chance to ride a LHT, have you?  I'd be highly interested in a good write up about the handling similarities and differences between those two.  I suspect however that a very low trail geometry is what I really need. But not a single offering in the whole world seems to give the choice of low trail with 700cc wheels.  So much choice, and not much choice really, in the end.

[Danneaux]

Well done and ll congratulations on a stunning result, Ben. What a relief to get a good, comfortable fit on a bike and one that looks great as well.

Welcome to the Thorn Cycles Forum!

Dan.

[jags]

Pavel before i bought the Audax i was seriously thinking of the clubtour but after a long chat with Dan  he reckoned the audax was the bike for me .
i wanted a lightweight bike that could take panniers good climber   ride at 50mph downhill in a straight line and look good doing it  700c wheels were top of my list i really don't like 599 wheels no matter what Andy Blance says sorry Andy the 700 are way faster and lighter any day of the week.
anyway great bikes Thorn for sure .

Anto.
dinner ready roast with veggies roast spuds  gravy yum yum big boad apple pie and ice cream foe desert . hope none of you boys are stuck in a tent with only 1 tea bag.

[Danneaux]

inner ready roast with veggies roast spuds  gravy yum yum big boad apple pie and ice cream foe desert . 

Hold a plate for me, Anto, I'm coming! 

All the best,

Dan.

[smithhaddon123]

Thank you very much for the kind words and good wishes, all, much appreciated.

PH - you're right about the blue bell/red cables!  Bit of an eyesore but the bell was my Dad's youth hostelling bell and it just has to be there.  Perhaps I should have found blue cables...   Re. V brakes versus cantis, the Vs do work perfectly well, I just prefer the modulation and ease of balancing of cantis.  Vs are inherently more picky on account of the noodle being on one side and the blocks sitting closer to the rim.  I don't find cantis to be lacking in power, but do accept that they're not as powerful as Vs.  A good canti setup will still hurl you over the bars if you ask it to!

Jags - those tyres are Compass Bon Jon Pass Lightwall tyres in 700x35C.  Unusually they measure up to their spec.  They're perhaps the most significant part that adds to the bike's lossless feeling - wide, light race-type tyres are rare to find.  Velovelocity is the UK distributer, a very nice guy with an old school bike shop.  I also use Koolstop pads, great product. 

Pavel - I haven't tried the LHT sadly, but I have had the 610 Long club tour, with the same fork.  Due to its steeper head angle, the Long has lower trail than the Short.  This makes it very stable at low to moderate speeds, and better if carrying a heavy bar bag, but the steering does inevitably go light at speed.  Low-trail is great, but you do need to know what you to expect on descents; it can catch you out (yes, personal experience!).  Personally I think Thorn have it spot on with their recommended fork offsets, per head angle.  Incidentally, the LHT has more trail than the Club Tour, with the recommended offset fork.  It has 66mm, as opposed to the 59mm of the Thorn (610S size).     I use http://yojimg.net/bike/web_tools/trailcalc.php to calculate trail.  Both have HAs of very close to 72°; LHT offset is 45mm; TCT is 52mm, hence the difference. 

Dan - thank you very much!  It certainly is comfortable. 

Ben

[PH]

I have had the 610 Long club tour, with the same fork.  Due to its steeper head angle, the Long has lower trail than the Short.  This makes it very stable at low to moderate speeds, and better if carrying a heavy bar bag, but the steering does inevitably go light at speed.

I hadn't realised the Long and Short frames had different HT angles, Thorn like to keep them a secret.  But I see they also recommend different fork offsets to go with them, I don't have the numbers to crunch them, do they cancel each other out?

[jags]

inner ready roast with veggies roast spuds  gravy yum yum big boad apple pie and ice cream foe desert .

Hold a plate for me, Anto, I'm coming! 

All the best,

Dan.

hah ha your to late Dan i ate the lot.

[smithhaddon123]

I hadn't realised the Long and Short frames had different HT angles, Thorn like to keep them a secret.  But I see they also recommend different fork offsets to go with them, I don't have the numbers to crunch them, do they cancel each other out?

I believe they do.  I studied a few of the pictures in the hi-res brochure. 

[Donerol]

What a gorgeou-looking bike.  I love the clean lines you get with down-tube shifters.

[smithhaddon123]

Thank you.  I LOVE downtube shifters!  Ultimate expression of perfect simplicity. 

[Danneaux]

I love the clean lines you get with down-tube shifters.

...and...

I LOVE downtube shifters!  Ultimate expression of perfect simplicity.

Absolutely agreed! Two of my rando bikes and my commuter all have DT shifters. All but one are friction-only; the other is 7-sp indexed with a friction option I use about half the time.

In my mind, accomplished downtube friction shifting is a bit like being accomplished at shifting a well-made manual car transmission; satisfaction in every shift 'cos you alone did it based on a skillset you acquired and honed yourself. It isn't pre-canned and no one can gift you the skills, they have to be earned. 

Best,

Dan.

[Pavel]

+1!  Why did they ever have to go to these more complicated expensive ways to change?  Oh .. yeah, I forgot, they have to keep selling new stuff all the time.