Touring Bike: Thorn Raven Tour (537L) - For sale elsewhere

This touring bike is highly regarded among cyclo-tourists.

The frame is made from Thorn 969 Steel in Traditional British Racing Green.

Top tube: 59cm (from centre of saddle post to centre of head tube)
Top of seat post to centre of bottom bracket: 49cm.
Standover at mid point: 75cm.
(all measurements taken directly from the bike; check manufacturer's dimensions for 537L)

The complete bicycle as is weighs: 15.9kg, with pedals, rack, mud-guards etc.

Wheels: Front: Tiagra hub, Rigid Andra 30 rim, Schwalbe City tyre 26 X 1.50 inch.
Rear: Nuvinci 360 hub, Rigid Andra 30 rim, Schwalbe Marathon tyre 26 X 1.75 inch.

Brakes: Shimano ‘V’ brakes and levers front and rear.

Headset: FSA Orbit XL 2.

Thorn flat aluminium handlebar.
Thorn cranks. (please not pedals not included, but will leave them on for a test ride).

Tortec chromoplastic mudguards.

Rear rack, Blackburn.

The gears are NuVinci Internally Geared Hubs, with no derailleur, and hence almost no maintenance.
(Often these bikes are fitted with Rohloff hubs, and this would be a fairly straightforward upgrade. With the Rohloff hub this bike retails new for around £2300)

•   CVP (Continuously Variable Planetary) drivetrain technology with an infinite number of ratios
•   Simple twist controller enables easy, continuous ratio adjustments while pedalling.
•   No missed gears, hesitation or noise
•   Includes CruiseController shift
•   Shifter's cable has quick clip on and off system to allow for simple flat tyre repair

This really is an excellent touring bike, it has signs of wear and tear but mechanically is in very good condition and has been cleaned and oiled regularly.

I am only selling because the planned tour of Europe has not happened.

Very happy for any potential buyers to try before deciding.

The bike is in Putney, London. SW15 3AD

£625

5 Attachments

Against the rules that is.

https://www.gumtree.com/p/bicycles/steel-touring-bike-thorn-raven-tour-537l/1384541017

On another note, do you like the nu vinci hub? I’d never heard of them but the concept sounds very cool

Biplane forked Thorn with a NuVinci. Niche. I flippin love it.

However yeah please check the rules. It’s either for sale here, or elsewhere, not both. GLWS nonetheless. It’s a beaut.

Apologies for breaching the rules, I have taken the ad off Gumtree now.
Thanks for the nice comments on the bike, it is a bit of a gem.

Yes I do like the Nu-Vinci, very smooth, and you can change gears when not moving. Also, you can find the sweet-spot, particularly when going uphill. Rather than having fixed gears, it’s more like a volume control, you can adjust to get exactly what you want.

Do you get the whole range while not moving. I used to do some work on a bike and I only had a limited amount of the gear range when not moving.

Yes, I get the whole range when the bike is still, it is really just like a volume control, there is no resistance when you twist the grip: it’s one of the features I really like about it.....and the zero maintenance!

zero maintenance!

Dunno, I did the cables on mine recently. Was a touch fiddly.

How do you mean? I’ve just kept the chain oiled and cleaned, (the bike is always stored indoors) and haven’t had to do anything else: it runs smooth as you could ask for.
Why did you need to do anything to the cables.

After some time the cables needed to be replaced. I think one frayed near one of the "barrel" fitments in the rear (that sits the cables into their positions on the hub.
Luckily I didn't lose either of the 2 "barrels" when this happened.
I think some of the nuvinci hubs have a slightly different cabling method (one involves measuring a length of cable excess from the housing to position the barrel)
Mine didn't necessarily need measuring (had to do a bit of trial and error with cable length as I didn't want barrel adjusters wound out)

The display on the shifter is ... amazing! So good.

how tall are you? would 5'5" ~ 5'8" be too short for this?

Ha ha, I know, it's very cool!

I'm 5'8'' and it is fine for me. 5'5'' sounds a little too short, although it depends what riding position you are more comfortable with, and the length of your arms. It might are a little too big, but very hard to tell without trying it.

Ok, cheers. I haven't had to do any of that, the only thing I've done is unclip the cable to replace the rear tyre, and that was very easy.

Save it for the mechanics haha