Guinness Irish? Oh, man ... I feel bad about my faux-pas and promise to rectify my mistake at once!
I took it upon myself to consume, as fast as possible the brew with the different Karma, and in fact am very pleased to inform that it is all gone. Now to set things right I must ask those of you who have done research in this area to recommend an alternative. I have to say that Guiness is the best beer I've ever had the pleasure of (so far) but since symbolism is so important I promise to drink at least two cases of whichever brew is recommended and which I can find here amongst the cans of Miller light. Mea Culpa ... or cuppa, I mean.
Jags ... I noticed that the Guiness seems to impart more of a wobble to the ride. Is that an Irish thing?
The wheel is not as bad as I first reported. Yes my guess was 1.5 mm, not cm but I measured it as best as I could without a runout dial and it is close to about 3 mm, just in one spot. I can imagine that shipping could have had something to do with it and I know that sometimes some rims can pull after even a good build. No problem though as I adjusted the brakes, centering them, and now the rim just misses from rubbing. Thorn sets the breaks up really nice and tight, perhaps a millimeter on each side.
I've been puttering with various things about the bike, slowly dialing it in and I've gone on two short rides of about six and ten kilometers so far. My first impressions are that the bike is less stiff than I expected. What I mean is that the bike is obviously a strong frame but it is supple and comfortable. I was willing to give up anything comfort wise to gain a good controlled ride with no sway after my experiences with my Fuji Touring bike but this is completely different than I was worried about. This bike is not harsh at all! What a nice surprise. Seriously ... I'm blown away! It is also more lively than I expected and picks up speed very briskly - even with me pedaling.
I'm starting to come to the thinking that it is a function of 26" wheels vs 700cm. Aside from all the advantages such as strength and availability in more countries, I think that the smaller circumference adds a noticeable degree of ease of speed change giving that lively impression. It makes sense because if you take the same weight and spin it over a larger circumference as you need to on 700cm wheels you increase the effective mass tremendously. Any thoughts on that? I've got the 1.6 duremes on right now, I have not yet tried the mondials but the ride is much more of a lighter bike that I thought it would be. That is a very pleasant surprise. I thought that perhaps my choice of a Nomad may have been one that was too extreme (but at least it would not do the fuji wobble) and that I perhaps would find the downsides biting me, but so far ... what downsides?!?!
I tried to take much care in how I wired the lights and have many thoughts on that, which I will save for another thread in a more appropriate section. I did want to ask one quick thing however. I normally like to have a ground wire run back to the light from the rear led lamp rather than grounding it through the frame. I don't like zip ties. I don't use them except when I can't think of other options. The Nomad has a little bit of space under or over that rear brake line in the braze on guides. I wanted to run the wire through there but it is just a bit too narrow a space to be able to fit it in. Perhaps a bit of grease along with elbow grease? Anyways, I feel quite sure that if I run only one wire, it will fit but then I will have to ground to the frame. Any ideas here both about how best to do this and about where and how it would be good to ground to if that is the best option for one who hates extra zip ties?
I will post some pix of my happy struggles after I get them on the computer. As I mentioned, I've got many thoughts and questions for you that have gone down this route before. Hey, I can see that tinkering with a nicely thought out bike can be almost as much fun as riding it. So much to optimise. I wonder if that is a guy thing. The girls may be more sensible and simply use the bike for what it was designed to do.
So in that spirit, dawn is breaking and the birds are singing (praises for thorn bikes I think) so I better get out there and do what the Nomad was designed to do. I can stare at it and dream of optimizations later! Ciao fer now!
I've noticed that this forum is more slow moving, with less participation than other forums I've been on. It's a shame that Thorn builds such good bicycles. We don't get to post innumerable gripes. You all seem to be cycling, rather than nursing sore body parts or waiting on repairs. Oh well, nothings perfect!
