Fifty Plus (50+) - Some additions to the family

The pictures tell the story. I'm aiming to have them built into fully-fledged touring bikes by Easter.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7206/6812710266_53c9c52948_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/machka-bb/sets/72157626350069999/detail/?page=2)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7055/6815442430_6c280351e1_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/machka-bb/sets/72157626350069999/detail/?page=2)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7041/6961618141_f1926f390d_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/machka-bb/sets/72157626350069999/detail/?page=2)


These frames have virtually been around the world already. Thorn closed its frame shop in England last year and now sources their frames from Taiwan. So they've gone from Taiwan to England, then on to Australia. Ordered on Thursday 1 March, arrived on Monday 5 March... but we did pay a premium on the freight.

Frame material is Reynolds 751. Machka's is 533mm in size, mine 555. L-o-n-g chainstays. Come with seatpost, fork, headset, cable hanger, and rear brake cable adjuster... and more braze-ons than you can poke stick at.

Components will be, among others, Shimano, Mavic, DT Swiss, Brooks, SKS, Schwalbe and Problem Solvers.

I may bump this thread as the builds progress.

Nice frames y'all have gotten Rowan, should make some great tourers for you and Machka. Please do keep the build updated so we can ooh and ahh at the goodies as you add to the frames. Loking forward to seeing the bicycles.

Bill

Very nice. I'd love to see some pics as the work progresses.

The only things that I can foresee being wrong about the bikes is that they'll be built upside down and made to travel on the wrong side of the road. Good looking frames now get busy building but not to busy to post pictures as you go.

Very nice his and hers matching frames. Curious to see the finished products.

Please do update the threat. I would be especially interested in the bikes geometry as well as the geometry of the forks. I'm planning to do light touring myself, never having done it. As a consequence, bikes designed specifically for that purpose are of great interest.

Tasty stuff...What is the target tyre width?

I dig that color Man! :thumb:



http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7206/6812710266_53c9c52948_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/machka-bb/sets/72157626350069999/detail/?page=2)

Okie-dokie... been away for a long weekend of a 200kim randonnee on the tandem, a 20km exploration ride of an historic gold mining region on the Ti singles, and a fantastic return train ride to another historic town.


The only things that I can foresee being wrong about the bikes is that they'll be built upside down and made to travel on the wrong side of the road. Good looking frames now get busy building but not to busy to post pictures as you go.
Hehehehe... the frames were designed in the UK where everything is done on the left side of the road, made in Taiwan where they, I believe, drive on the left side of the road, and reside in Australia where we also use the left side.

Get with the program, you guys!


Please do update the threat. I would be especially interested in the bikes geometry as well as the geometry of the forks. I'm planning to do light touring myself, never having done it. As a consequence, bikes designed specifically for that purpose are of great interest.
Yes, interesting questions on the geometry and forks.

The seat tube angle on Machka's is 74 deg and on mine 73.5. The head tube angle is, I think, parallel to the seat tube. The chainstays are really long at 440mm on hers, and 445 on mine. And after that the frame dimensions published by SJS/Thorn are a bit airy-fairy.

The forks have traditional crowns and blades with quite the sweep. Thorn guarantee that toe overlap will NOT be a problem on any bike they sell.


The frames have vertical dropouts, so we will be going with the usual cassette-and-derailleur set-up. We could have gone the Thorn Ravens, but we figure these bikes will take all that we will throw at them, and while I do lust after the Rohloff hubs, the cost is prohibitive for us right now.

Suffice to say that the guy who holds the record for the north-south crossing of both American continents rode a Thorn Club Tour (according to the Thorn website).


Tasty stuff...What is the target tyre width?

We'll be using 700 x 28C Schwalbe Duranos which we use on the tandem and have proven to be very durable and comparatively light; they also seem to be much closer to their published cross-sectional size than others. They will go on Mavic A719 rims, which we also have on the tandem, and are among the favoured choices among touring cyclists; again, light and durable.

The bikes will be built primarily for our upcoming six-month tour that includes much (or some) of the North Sea Route. We expect them to last us for a long, long time.

The frames and forks have the capacity to go to 37mm width. The rear drop-outs are standard MTB 135mm, so we will be opting for Shimano Deore hubs (the Thorn standard, and they are durable enough for us).


I dig that color Man! :thumb:

It's called British Racing Green (Machka's is just blue, but with a faint irridescence about it), and according to the Thorn material, it is based more on the old Bentley green. Seeing I won't be ever owning a Bentley, I am happy to have a bike in that colour!

Is there a more aptly named bicycle component company than "Problem Solvers"?