Raven (updated 07/10/2005)

[Stijn]

This is how I build up my Raven. At the moment it is still being using, to tour the many miles of the English country side Bridle ways. Hopefully it is going to take me a bit further a field in the future.

The bike was build up to offer "unlimited" on/off-road touring, which is a bit of a compromise against speed and lightweight (16.5Kg). To me it is a great bike, the only down side it that I want to be riding it all the time. []

(updated picture, spec has changes from discussion below 07/10/2005)



Many thanks to everyone at SJS Cycles, for their help and for offering a great range of bike products.

Current build (as per 07/10/2005):
-Thorn Raven tour Frame MkII,  size 512L, in Rosso red
· Suspension fork: Magura Vidar 80mm 2005
· Headset FSA Orbit XLII black.
· Stem 70mm 20degree rize four bolt clamp black.
· Front wheel: Shimano XT 32 hole central locking hub on a Mavic 618 rim with DT Champion spokes.
· Rear wheel: Rohloff 14 speed hub silver, 16teeth sprocket,  on a Sun Rhyno rim. DT competition spokes 240mm.
· Brakes: Avid Single Digit 7 V-brakes with Wrangler cartridge pads and Avid speedial levers
· Front rack: Faiv Hoogar in Black
· Mudguards: SKS 55mm black with suspension fork fitting kit
· Handelbar:, Thorn Carbon anatomic Exp/Tandem, riser bar, 18 degree
· Grips: Ergon MR-1
· Speedometer: Cateye Enduro 8
· Seatpost: Cane Creek Crudbuster, with neoprene cover
· Saddle: Brooks team professional + Brooks rain cover
· Bottom bracket: tapered Shimano 68mm 118mm LX (UN53)
· Crankset, Old Shimano LX tapered 5 arm 110PCD 170mm
· Peddles: Dual sided, SPD and normal, Shimano PD-M324
· Chainring Bashguard Thorn 110PCD
· Chainring: Thorn reversible 110PCD 40 Teeth.
· Chain: SRAM PC48
· Rear rack Tubus 26inch Cargo black.
· Rear light
- Bottle cages: Profile and Minoura large PET bottle cage
· Tires, Vredestein Scarab 2004 1.75Inch
· Innertubes: Swalbe Schrader

Things I'd like to change:

- Change the Cable esambly on the Rohloff hub to have an external cable house.
- Replace the front wheel with a strong 36spoke wheel.
- Some other tires, maybe the Schwalbe Marathon or XR's

[Sprocket]

Nice shiny Raven, Stijn. Those don't look like V brakes, are you using hydraulics? I wondered how much a completed Raven may weigh, but I didn't think it would be as much as 16.5 Kg. I am guessing that it is the adventure tour frame, am I right?. Enjoy it!

[Stijn]

Hi Sprocket.

The brakes are Magura HS33's, lots of stopping power. They are fit and forget, until they break down which could be a bit harder to fix then normal V-brakes. With these brakes it takes me less then 5sec., to change the pads. I’ve fitted then about 1500Km ago and haven’t had to re-adjust them yet.

The adventure tour frame, apparently, is only about 200gr heavier then the normal frame. The main weight penalty has gone into the tiers, Swalbe Marathon XR are a hefty 850Gr each, the rims are Sun Rhino's which weight in at about 700Gr each. The (40 spoke) Son hub weights about 650Gr, the brooks saddle about 600Gr, front carrier about 700Gr.

2 kilo's could come out of the wheels, but that would make the bike less versatile. And if it had to be really light weight, I could get rid of the lighting, mudguards, rear carrier etc., which would probably save another 1.5 kilo.

It’s all about personal preference.

[Michael Falk]

Stijn,
a very pretty bike! Some very long lasting componentry.

Just as a matter of interest:

What chainring size did you choose (& cog size if it isn't 16t)?

Any particular reason for the Tubus instead of the Thorn rear rack?

40 spoke front hub seems unusual choice, obviously for strength but just that it's different to rear. Unlikely for a problem to arise though.

Michael Falk

[Stijn]

Hi Micheal,

The chain ring and sprockets are 36/16, it’s beyond the warranty limit of Rohloff but don't think this going to be a problem since I'm not that strong a cyclist. This ratio means I top-out quite quickly, leaving my top speed down hill to about 35-40Mls. I don’t mind this since this is fast enough for me anyway, I’d rather keep on spinning up hill comfortably.

I always liked the Tubus Cargo and it has a good track record, it comes in two sizes for 700CC a 26” bikes. This lowers the center of gravity, which is a good thing. The Tubus feels really solid. With all respect to Andy’s SJS rear carrier design, it’s a wide platform which makes panniers stick out even further, but Andy claims it’s even stronger then the Tubus and easier to mend in remote places.

With regards to the wheel. I was lucky to be able to buy a second hand one for a good price. This wheel was probably build for a tandem that’s why it’s got the 40 spokes But I’m thinking of changing it for a lighter front wheel without a SON hub. It feels like the SON hub makes the bike a lot slower, and it quite heavy, I don’t use the light that often either. I don’t need the extra strength (fingers crossed), since I don’t like a heavy load in the front carriers any way. The big advantage of the chunky Run Rhino front rim is that the heat dissipation on a long downhill is excellent/reassuring.

Cheers,

Stijn

[ahconway]

Nice one Stijn!

As you may have read elsewhere on the Forum, I've just ordered my own Raven AT - but I'm still in a bit of a quandary about a couple bits, the rack being one. Why did you go for Tubus' Cargo instead of the Logo? Was SJSC able to source and fit the rack for you? I'm leaning toward Tubus because the Thorn racks are only available in black - and I've specced everything else on my new machine in silver (on one of the new blue powder coat frames).

Also, which bar ends are those? I've ordered the Thorn carbon ones, but I'm thinking they might be a little too small...

Thanks - Andrew

[Stijn]

Andrew,

Accidentally I was able to admire a bike with the Tubus logo the other day. I was quite impressed. It looked very good, with the bags nice and low and slightly further back. I would contemplate going for the Logo, but there’s not much in it. I haven’t seen the Logo on the SJS website, so don’t think they stock it. I’m sure they’d fit it for you if you had it ordered for the bike. About going for the stainless steel ones, they are slightly less strong then the black steel ones.

The bar-ends are cheapo Halford ones, for £15, with a bit of foam around them.

Cheers,

Stijn

[daveireland]

quote:Originally posted by Stijn

Andrew,

Accidentally I was able to admire a bike with the Tubus logo the other day. I was quite impressed. It looked very good, with the bags nice and low and slightly further back. I would contemplate going for the Logo, but there’s not much in it. I haven’t seen the Logo on the SJS website, so don’t think they stock it. I’m sure they’d fit it for you if you had it ordered for the bike. About going for the stainless steel ones, they are slightly less strong then the black steel ones.


The bar-ends are cheapo Halford ones, for £15, with a bit of foam around them.

Cheers,

Stijn

Hi Andrew

I've got a Tubus Logo on my Roberts cross country bike and a Thorn 531 rear rack on my Nomad. I prefer the Thorn because the platform is wide enough to take an Altura rack pack comfortably, which the Tubus narrow platform won't allow. The Tubus does allow panniers to be mounted lower but the advantage of that is outweighed by not being able to carry a rack pack, in my view. Both Tubus and Thorn racks do seem to be immensly strong and don't sway with heavy loads, but for sheer convenience, I'd go for the cheaper of the two Thorn racks.

Cheers

Dave

[keithJ.]

Hi new to forum and hope you dont mind me asking a few questions about your excellent bike.

Can you give full spec of bike? forks on Thorn bikes seem so narrow compared to the tank like dawes Sardar frok (although they are too narrow even for 1.75 tyres what a cock up!!)are the Thorn froks very strong for off road? do find that 32 spokes on back is enough camping laden? or is that a feature of these types of hubs and if i am used to 48-38-26 gears on old set up (12-32) will i have enough gears on a Rohloff ( by the way if you are off road a lot could you have gone for the fox suspension upgrade - just a thought!)

Sorry about all teh questions, just need to solve the lack of clearnace problem and Thorn may be an option, Best Keith

[keithJ.]

Sorry about the crap spelling by the way, Keith.

[marcg]

Obviously you will get some knowledgable replies on this forum but also if you contact Rohloff directly you will find they are extremely helpfulas well.
For information from someone with lots of experience of touring with the Raven you should contact Cass Gilbert who did the original trials and review for Cycling Plus.
Also elsewhere on this forum are quite a few links which I put up a few months ago and which lead to discussions about different aspects of the Rohloff and the Raven.

For a full spec on the bike you should download Thorn's brochure on their sales website - although basically you can have any spec you like although if you give up the Rohloff then I suppose that it is no longer a Raven.

[Stijn]

Keith,

About the fork. They are really nice and very strong originally designed for a Tandem if I'm correct. But still quite springy too, due to the bend and a double horizontal plate at the crown. They are much more forgiving then a straight steel or carbon fork with no bend The discussion about going for rigid or suspended forks is a long one. In the past I've come across cyclists in remote places with suspended fork which had stopped working, so they were then stuck with the worst of both world, extra weight, sloppy steering and no suspension at all. Depends on were your planning to go really. I’ve even heard of suspension forks with broken crowns, which would be a right disaster. The suspended forks are not really made to take pannier carriers either. And the rigid forks on the Raven have the best pannier carrier system I’ve come across.

With regards to the 32 spokes in the rear wheel. Because the Rohloff is so thick and has got wide flanges, the spoke length is much shorter and is more symmetrically dishes then more tradition wheel with a derailleur rear hub.  Resulting into a much stronger wheel. I think it’s more important to have a good solid rim if you worried about wheel failure then 4 spokes more or less.

I haven’t got a specs list of my bike. If I make one I’ll post it here.

Cheers,

Stijn