Thorn Sherpa Build

[in4]

Thanks for your reply. Very helpful indeed.

[SteveM]

Thanks for all your replies.  Very useful.  I made up my mind to buy the bike, then realised the frame was way too small!  Note to self: read the small print dumbo.

[mickeg]

Thanks for all your replies.  Very useful.  I made up my mind to buy the bike, then realised the frame was way too small!  Note to self: read the small print dumbo.

That is unfortunate.

Thanks for letting us know how this saga ended.

[Pavel]

Loretta Henderson of Scalatitude.com rode her black Thorn Raven ( alled pandemic the magic bicycle) around the world for five years.  I think that says a lot about the Raven and Sherpa frames.  I have a Nomad, but were I to do it all over again, I think I'd go for the Raven. 

[SteveM]

I decided to take your advice and tinker around with an old GT MTB frame.  It’s fun and cheap picking up stuff from FB marketplace.  Once I have stripped it down and built it up it might be time to step up to something more ambitious.  The knowledge on here just keeps astounding me.  Thanks for all the info.

[Andyb1]

Ah - I ended up with that Sherpa, thankfully at a lower price than advertised.

Large and middle chainwheels were well worn and Deore replacements do not seem available so I fitted a Strong and Light 3 chainwheel set I had knocking around, which meant fitting a slightly longer BB to get the chainline right.  The rest of the transmission was fine, chain and rear cassette looked like new.

Saddle was changed to a B17 from ebay and the rack changed to one with thinner tubes to take my panniers.

The handlebars that were fitted were too narrow for the ergon bar ends that were literally hanging off. I found a Thorn touring handlebar on ebay.

The lower headset bearing was rough so was replaced.

V brake pads replaced and that really improved the braking.

Pedals had their shoe-clips removed and tidied up so they are now just conventional flat pedals - but I will add toe clips.

Frame all OK, no dents, paint good.

Rides nicely now and with quite narrow tyres it feels surprisingly fast.

[PH]

Ah - I ended up with that Sherpa, thankfully at a lower price than advertised.

Excellent. If you get the right frame and wheels, at the right price, everything else is doable, and if doing it yourself then usually economically so.
Hope it proves to be just what you want.