The Right Choice.

[jags]

Cheers John

[leftpoole]

Hello!
My Club Tour is for camping/touring with rear panniers. I hesitate to ask, but what miniscule loads are carried by those who say the Audax is suitable for touring? Also the rear bags need to be far back to avoid heel hitting. Then of course the front of the bike leaps from the ground! If proper diligence is applied to a camping load, maybe but only maybe for one nights equipment. Bed and breakfast touring maybe but I doubt personally full camping touring...
I have (sorry jags) three Thorn Audax Mk3 bikes and one is winter use and one is summer use. The other is undecided but it does have 32 mm tyres fitted.....
All in all the bikes are great but  for their intended purpose, which is lightweight fast sporty riding!
My opinion but I hope a genuine one.
Best regards,
John

[jags]

Morning John,well can't really say the weight i woud be carrying.
hopefully in the next  month i'll be buying ortlieb rear  rolltop panniers  and tubus rear rack,also my tent will be carried on top of rack,barbag will carry the usual gear.
all in all i suppose 15 to 20 lb but thats just a guess ,
as for lightweight up front i'm not to bothered about that i'm well used to riding lightweigh bikes anyway the barbag will sort that feeling out, it did with the sherpa.

[Blue lotus]

Hi jags,

As lots of other makes were mentioned, have you considered the Condor Heritage/Fratello bikes?
While looking for the ideal fast winter commuter, I just got hold of an Heritage at a ridiculous price. The bike is fantastic, fast, can be equipped as a road bike or a a tourer, and can carry a lot of loads. I looked at Thorn Audax while looking but the Condor was a too good bargain and there were no used Audax then. As you can see in the "sale" section, some Audax can be found for £300 which to me are bargains.
I'm not too keen on buying new things, I usually let people pay the "new" price for me
Good research, that's also part of the fun in cycling!

Etienne

[Relayer]

Hello!
My Club Tour is for camping/touring with rear panniers. I hesitate to ask, but what miniscule loads are carried by those who say the Audax is suitable for touring? Also the rear bags need to be far back to avoid heel hitting. Then of course the front of the bike leaps from the ground! If proper diligence is applied to a camping load, maybe but only maybe for one nights equipment. Bed and breakfast touring maybe but I doubt personally full camping touring...
I have (sorry jags) three Thorn Audax Mk3 bikes and one is winter use and one is summer use. The other is undecided but it does have 32 mm tyres fitted.....
All in all the bikes are great but  for their intended purpose, which is lightweight fast sporty riding!
My opinion but I hope a genuine one.
Best regards,
John

Hi Anto

I am sure you won't get better advice than John has provided here, John has more experience riding (and lots of touring) various Thorn bikes than anybody I can think of on these boards.

I'm really not sure why you want a super fast climber for a touring bike while you have your Raleigh for fast day rides?  But, with a Club Tour you could have a second pair of lightweight wheels for when you are not touring, as per the brochure in the old days people would race on their tourers at weekends.

I don't have personal experience of a Club Tour or a Sherpa, but I would put money on the Club Tour to be lighter and faster than your Sherpa, and a better climber. It won't be quite as responsive as an Audax but IMO the versatility for touring AND recreational riding outweighs that.  Maybe John could add a comparison of his Sherpa against his Club Tours?

Sorry to cloud the issue for you Anto, but Club Tour gets my vote.

Jim

[Donerol]

Hello!
My Club Tour is for camping/touring with rear panniers. I hesitate to ask, but what miniscule loads are carried by those who say the Audax is suitable for touring? Also the rear bags need to be far back to avoid heel hitting.

Touring doesn't have to involve camping - it wasn't clear to me from Jags's first post that he intended to camp. How much stuff do you need to take for a week's B&B or hostelling? A change of cycling clothes, one set 'normal' clothes for evening, flip-flops, washing kit, a few bike tools/spares, camera and valuables in the bar bag, wet weather gear bungied to the rack.... it doesn't add up to very much. I wash kit in the evening and it is dry in the morning, so the same load is good for either three days or a fortnight. Heel clearance isn't a problem as you don't need big panniers - I use either Carradice Kendals (which are square and seen in the photo above) or Carradice Super C Universals which are tapered.

From the Thorn brochure:

Whilst the Mk3 Audax excels at light weight touring (less than
8Kg), the frame is strong enough to cope with medium weight
touring, it will carry up to 15Kg of luggage…on a suitable rear
carrier...if you need it to!

8Kg is 17 1/2lb so if Jags can get his camping kit near that weight he would be fine - easier in summer than winter, though.  He needs to check carefully rather than guess, and allow for the weight of the various bags.

[jags]

Etienne no i didn't look at the condor YET  
theres so many bikes to choose from hard to get your head around them at times but still as cyclist i don't mind looking.yeah i would certainly buy second hand ,i have been looking hard but no luck as yet still im in no hurry which is just as well

Jim my raleigh is useless for touring but a super bike so i reckon if  can get a bike that will climb as well as it i'm on to a winner.and besides i really really want a new bikw simples.

Donerol  i would be camping but i reckon i could keep my gear fairly light cloths is always a problem so i will have to sort that out big time,i have faith in the thorn audax i really dont think i would wreck the bike with the touring i have in mind.

[honesty]

For my 4 days of hostel touring I did last year I had 7kg on on the back in my panniers (bulkiest item, off bike shoes - wont be taking them next time. Heaviest item d-lock - got a abus cable lock for next time), 3kg in a bar bag (slr, wallet, electrical stuff, bike tools) and 2 bottles of water. The next 4 day tour will be lighter and will only be in a saddle bag and bar bag.

For climbing it seems decent, but I'm a spinner and am happy to dawdle up hills in low gears...

[honesty]

To be honest, if the audax frame had another bottle holder on it it would be absolutely perfect for everything apart from long distance fully loaded touring. With the standard front forks you could even fit low loaders and carry 5kg there as well!

[Blue lotus]

Etienne no i didn't look at the condor YET  

If you live near Bristol and want to see one from close, you know whom to write to 

[rualexander]

Hello!
My Club Tour is for camping/touring with rear panniers. I hesitate to ask, but what miniscule loads are carried by those who say the Audax is suitable for touring? Also the rear bags need to be far back to avoid heel hitting. Then of course the front of the bike leaps from the ground! If proper diligence is applied to a camping load, maybe but only maybe for one nights equipment. Bed and breakfast touring maybe but I doubt personally full camping touring...
I have (sorry jags) three Thorn Audax Mk3 bikes and one is winter use and one is summer use. The other is undecided but it does have 32 mm tyres fitted.....
All in all the bikes are great but  for their intended purpose, which is lightweight fast sporty riding!
My opinion but I hope a genuine one.
Best regards,
John

Audax Mk3 is perfectly capable of carrying a good touring load, mine carried luggage for two people plus camping gear on our Lejog ride in 2010. No problems, the front end was slightly flexy but once moving it wasn't noticeable. Plenty of heel clearance for my size 12's.

[leftpoole]

Hi Anto

I am sure you won't get better advice than John has provided here, John has more experience riding (and lots of touring) various Thorn bikes than anybody I can think of on these boards.

I'm really not sure why you want a super fast climber for a touring bike while you have your Raleigh for fast day rides?  But, with a Club Tour you could have a second pair of lightweight wheels for when you are not touring, as per the brochure in the old days people would race on their tourers at weekends.

I don't have personal experience of a Club Tour or a Sherpa, but I would put money on the Club Tour to be lighter and faster than your Sherpa, and a better climber. It won't be quite as responsive as an Audax but IMO the versatility for touring AND recreational riding outweighs that.  Maybe John could add a comparison of his Sherpa against his Club Tours?

Sorry to cloud the issue for you Anto, but Club Tour gets my vote.

Jim

Hello Anto,
I loved the Sherpa and my Club Tour but the Club Tour won in the end. Although the Sherpa was a great bike and I assume still is, the Club Tour is just quicker and less lumbering. I decided the Sherpa was better used by someone who need a heavy duty bike. It is now up in Elgin North Scotland and in daily use commuting through the gales!
Club Tour in my opinion is far more useful for touring than the Audax and, whilst others have toured on an Audax I can point out that some have toured and ridden Lands end to Joh  Ogroats on Bromptons and sundry other machines. If you only want or can afford one touring bike make it a Club Tour and not an Audax!
John

[jags]

Thanks everyone great to hear your expert views.
Seems i could choose either club tour or audax and still be a very happy camper.
As John said the sherpa is geared more towards the heavy duty tourer,thats the reason i bought it in the first place,i was to tour asia with a guy but he backed out,touring never entered my head until he asked me to go with him,anyway that was the reason i bought the Thorn Sherpa not that i ever regetted buying it as it opened my eyes up to different type of cycling and to be honest a much better part.
so yeah sherpa was wasted on me it needs an adventurer not a fred the new owner will certainly put it through its paces for sure.

so whats it to be tour or audax stay tuned folks i'de settle for either one.
thanks everyone,

Anto.

[John Saxby]

Seems i could choose either club tour or audax and still be a very happy camper

Reckon there are worse choices to have, jags...  Look forward to reading the next chapter -- and hey! maybe even seeing the result sometime, who knows?  :-)

[jags]

John if only i could talk my lovely daughter to cancel  the wedding i would have that frame next week
ooops future hubby is a nice lad