Thorn, snagged

Well, rather pleased to now be the owner of an early Mk1 Thorn Nomad as the next project.
Plans are for a lovely tourer, dynamos, racks, campagnolo drivetrain and am wavering between leaving as is or getting a fresh coat of paint…
More news once I’ve raided the parts bins this weekend.

1 Attachment

This could be ace. Subbed.

I was so close to buying this!
Looking forward to seeing it built up.

(Also dibs if you sell)

Ha! That lovely seller in Gloucester (who has another really nice complete Thorn for sale) held it for me, chucked in a pair of virtually new tyres that fit as well.
I think this one might be a keeper :)

lovely frame, sounds like a lovely build!

Nice! Fillet brazed?

Indeed. Really nicely done as well.

And thanks all for the kind words.
Wasn’t sure there’d be must interest in this but then I guess it’s maybe wrong just right.
Tbh I’ve never had a frame with so many fixing points. It’s more like a boat than a bike, but in a good way.
More importantly though… paint.
Was thinking maybe a dark grey (will borrow the office RAL swatches) but then got to thinking, you know, maybe more of a colour. Not like (the threads topic du jour) Crust Yellow*, but maybe a burnt orange?

*I do like yellow. But have a yellow biek already.

@Skülly surely you'll enjoy follow this thread... (sorry if you'd seen it already)

Thanks @veLLo.

Thorns are basically zits with a frame attached.

Is it 26 or 700c?

Cool frame either way and looking forward to seeing what you do with it!

26-er
Have a nice dynamo wheelset ready for it :)

Very nice. Will be watching this.

Selfish two hours in the sunshine this afternoon to see what fits / doesn’t / needed / could be bodged
Main issue is the drivetrain
I have a Chorus bb but it’s a 101 and I need a 111mm axle version
Then I need 9spd shifters (maybe bar end versions?), an fd - the 28.5mm bracket version, ideally Chorus (got Veloce, Mirage, Croce D’une lol) and a medium or long cage rd to match (I have half a dozen but they’re all short eights. I am an idiot collector.)
The seat tube is 27.2 but the black anodised one I have doesn’t fit. But the polished Laparade one does. WTF. Reaming might work it
The black ITM stem and drops are nice, going to try and make that work
Other bits and bobs for checking out so we’ll see
The tyres are nice but even at 35psi are cracking so will need to look at replacing them in due course
Overall, am happy and now getting a better idea of what’s going on here :)

3 Attachments

Ha ha that fucking front rack!
Dynamo lights work though

Is that actually a front rack or a "fear rack" ( @Chaley TM)

Am definitely afreard

Selfish two hours in the sunshine this afternoon...

Oh, do you have a cool pump to for these cool pegs on the rear triangle?

Wish I did
I have six old long pumps
None of them fit
Time for a bike jumble

Well, four hours of effort and managed to sort out both racks
Rear had a tricky ball bearing and spring lock deviousness which had escaped me but thank feck the bits were sat at the bottom of the storage box.
Front, think I’ve managed to avoid the Fear Rack [TM] with extra stays so might not die
Then royally bollocksed the simplest of tasks fitting bottle cage (see the Hate Thread for the full spleen
Am just worn out now.)
Also put the bar bag on the right way around, as opposed to the cockhanded set up in the picture
Bikes. Bah. Made better progress at the allotment

1 Attachment

Any updates?

Liking this! Subbed...

Ah
Well, have been trying to drill out the effing bestered bottle cage bolt to not much success, mainly as a tap broke off in the sheared bolt and the tap is made of undrillium despite three new metal bits worn out trying
Now looking at some kind of micro fileSaw to nip into the hole that took me three evenings to achieve, so as to make a slot I can put a flat headed screwdriver into to turn out the debris
The thread is ruined so that’ll be a glue in or I might try one of those inserts I can’t remember the name of that you push in and compress
Otherwise am waiting to source a bb, which is proving a challenge (but why I don’t know) and the the drivetrain bits
Hopefully next month might- might - see it ready for a shakedown ride :)

1 Attachment

:)))

effing bestered bottle cage

That sounds painful...
Where are you? Varonha could definitely sort you out with something like this....