Swithering over Audax and Club Tour

[Andre Jute]

I have a Team Pro from 35 years ago that was the best saddle I ever owned. It was soaked in Neatsfoot Oil for 24 hours before the shop would give it to me by an ex professional Wes Mason. It sure softened it up but now it is rock hard and shaped like my rear end....

My Brooks B73, also soaked in neatsfoot (the professional's treatment!), will be buried with me. But now I'm wondering if I can return it to Brooks to have copper rivets fitted. As Jags and Neil have noted above, that's very tasty bling.

[Far-Oeuf]

My Brooks B73, also soaked in neatsfoot (the professional's treatment!), will be buried with me. But now I'm wondering if I can return it to Brooks to have copper rivets fitted. As Jags and Neil have noted above, that's very tasty bling.

Brooks do have a repair service, and you can ask for a quote (supplying pictures) before sending it back.

cheers,

[Andre Jute]

Thanks, Far-Oeuf. That leads to the question of whether anyone knows whether the copper rivets the same size as the steel ones in the B73 (and other B66 derivatives).

[Far-Oeuf]

hmm....   http://far-oeuf.com/equipment/thorn-club-tour-mk4-first-impressions/

on the plus side, the Brooks Team Pro feels fantastic!  :-)

[jags]

wow such a list of complaints, my advice send it back end of story your never going to be happy with it. maybe buy john's (leftpoole) condor but only if it fits.

jags.

[Far-Oeuf]

the only real (returning the bike) problem is the saddle position.   this can maybe be fixed by raising it some more, but there's the risk of reach to the pedals becoming too far.   we'll see.

the forks, if they continue to exhibit 'the bounce', can be replaced.   as can all the other non-Thorn components which I'm not that impressed by.   however, that's all £££ on top of the bike cost.

I am quite amazed that a 10-speed system suffers from chain-rub.   And that Dura Ace shifters are clunky, I'd just imagined something smoother.   live and learn  

EDIT: to be clear, the frame (minus forks, and all the non-Thorn bits) feels really good.

[jags]

im amazed that dura ace is not to your liking.i've been useing them since first they appeared on the market find them fantastic never miss a beat.
theres nothing worse that buying a new bike and you find fault with it from the start (not your fault) if theres a 114 day money back on this bike then get rid of it buy another bike.
im happy with my audax and was happy with the sherpa but i just bought the frameset no more,  built them up with my choice of  gear.

jags

[Far-Oeuf]

you use Dura Ace downtube shifters?  maybe I'm just used to the smooth friction shifters, but they feel very clunky.   way more clunky than STIs.

I don't want to return it, I'd prefer to fix it (within reasonable £££).   My gut feel is that I will like the frame, live with some wierdness of the forks, and replace the rest.   I can transplant a lot from the LHT, but I think I'll have a problem with 8-speed chain-rings fitting cranks that fit bottom brackets that have external-bearings.  maybe not, I haven't looked into it.

What's brilliant is that I haven't thought about the colour scheme of the frame once  :-)

[Swislon]

Goodness you are patient. I would talk to Thorn about the issues as it should be perfect out of the box.
My steerer was left uncut and I wouldn't accept a nick in the head tube. That in it self would annoy me enough to return the bike.
I would only ask for a replacement if i felt this was going to be the bike for me and you seem to have many doubts.

[jags]

yes 9 speed dura ace no problem what so ever,but give me sti any day of the week quicker and smoother shift.if you get your sety up as you want it the frame is excellent.
but look with all those complaints i would defo send it back new bike should be perfect out of the box.
send it back tomorrow.


jags.

[Neil Jones]

I'm really sorry that your initial impressions are not what you'd hoped for. I would be very tempted to give Thorn a ring and discuss your feelings with them, they pride themselves on their after-sales service and the money back guaranty is built into the cost of the bike so don't be afraid to use it if you're not 100% happy it.
Neil.

[Far-Oeuf]

@Swislon, I found your thread with your CT4.  Interesting to compare the bar position with mine.  With the brakes in the most usable position, the ends of the bars come back past the head-tube.   If I had bar-end shifters, then I'd be banging my knees into them while riding.  The solution is to rotate the bars, but that will put the brake levers/hoods into an unusable position (necessitating tape removal and resetting the lever position).   It would be prudent to actually replace the rattly brake levers at this point too, which would mean new brake cables as well.   An annoyingly simple 'fix', for about £50 and an hour or so of time.

How do you find the fork, on not-quite-smooth downhills?  I might swap out the front tyre (possibly just put the front wheel from my LHT in) and go back and test riding down the hill where I experienced the wierd bouncing feeling.

@jags, I think the 9-speed Dura Ace downtube shifters have a friction mode, whereas the 10-speed ones don't.   I agree that STIs are better than downtube index shifting, but I don't think they are better than downtube friction shifting; for smoothness.

cheers,

[Far-Oeuf]

@Neil, thanks.   Yes, I've left a message for them.  It's just disappointment, after years of thinking about getting a 'proper' bike from a 'proper' shop.   My expectations were high.

Anyhow...   £40 will get me new levers, bar tape and brake cables.   That will let me set up the bars and levers properly.   I'll also flip the stem around, and buy a load of spacers and fine tune the bar height.

I think I'll be able to shift (pun intended!) over the 8-speed chainrings/cassette/chain/front-rear-mechs from the LHT to the CT.   That then allows me to take the friction shifters from the LHT too.   I don't need/want close ratio gears, it wasn't an 'upgrade' I am too interested in.

I can ignore (or touch up) the chip in the frame, it's a bike to be used and it'll pick up chips on the road.   Ditto the scratch on the stem.   I just need to understand this bouncing feeling from the forks/wheel/my-imagination.

If I commence surgery on the bars then I think that means I'm keeping it  :-)

cheers

[leftpoole]

Hello
As a long term Thorn enthusiast I am mystified! I think you have a couple of small things incorrect.
I also think after reading your Blog, that you have gone a little overboard with criticism. After all, you chose the components?
Try riding and loving, rather than moaning!
Have fun.
John

[jags]

john your an awful man