Touring - Buying a Tourer, anyone know Thorn bikes?

Hi, I have been researching good tour bikes and keep coming back to St. John's Cycles line of Thorn bikes, specifically the XTC. Does anyone here know anything about Thorn bikes? I am in the states and St. John's is in the UK, which is a pain, but from what I read there is no comparison between their bikes and what is commonly available in the states like Trek and Cannondale.

Any advice, any other bike recommendations? 6 weeks in Italy and Croatia, maybe some time in the Caucasus. Some camping, no personal cooking.

I am about to take delivery of my custom made Thorn eXp however instead of explaining the excellence of Thorn bicycles here...

I would suggest that you use the Search function and enter the word Thorn and press Enter on your keyboard...

you'll find lots of info here.

:)

Helo, ive been looking at thorn for a while and they seem to get very good write ups, ive heard thaT THE PAINT JOB ISNT YTOO HOT THOUGH.
Have you looked at orbit also they seem to be good and apparently a better paint job.
Ive just bought a dawes super galaxy and im well chuffed with it, excelent quality all round. and it was cheaper than the pair of the above.
I think there is a link on here somewhere about a couple cycling to australia, i cant remember what it is called but they have thorn bikes and they had problems with them only due to unsuitablity with the weight that they were carrying, the good thing was the service they recieved, someone put a short thread saying how inspiring it was, that may help you to indentify the link. Good luck

Honestly, there is no comparison between Orbit and Thorn.

You're speaking of Mark & Ju McLean who are riding Thorn's to Oz. Mark had a problem with his Nomad(shimmy)that was easily solved by swaping up to the eXp frameset. Mark is not ony carrying a huge amount of gear but is extremely tall so the shimmy was understandable as his center of gravity was very high as well. His wife Ju rides a Nomad with no problems(but does admit to frame envy with regard to Mark's top of the line eXp).

Lastly, paint isn't really an issue when touring... if you're doing serious touring paint will chip... fact of life. If you want less sheen and total bombproofness... go with a powdercoat. Thorn offers powdercoating.

Ask the folk at www.cyclingplus.co.uk and you'll get
your answer.

Or for a slightly more independent view that will still confirm the Thorn range is the bast touring bikes on earth at the moment
http://www.cyclingplus.co.uk/forum/
and put in the word 'Thorn' and see what you get

I bought a Thorn Nomad by mail order (I may be closer than you, but still too far justify) and have been very pleased with it.

I suggest you work out what you think you want from the Thorn site and then give them a call (from work, as you will on the phone over an hour) as they will really go through every item you have picked making sure it is the one you really want/need

Unfortunatly with the current weak dollar European bikes have just got more expensive for you.

This guy seems to be a bit of a fanatic, but he bought a Thorn by mail order and lives in New Zealand
http://www.marnies.co.nz/hoogie/nomad.htm
Tells you how he built it up and why he went Nomand rather than XTC

Manuel,
tell us about your plans for touring. I do lite touring (motels, hotels). Then there is good, old fashioned touring with tents. Then, of course, there is expedition touring where you are crossing continents, and extreme touring where you don't always use roads. Give us an idea of what you'll be doing, and we can offer a better suggestion.