Thorn, snagged

any tips for a potential Thorn/steel tourer buyer?

Crossedthread makes a very good point re: weight. unless you want to travel off-road over long distances with heavy loads, Nomads and the like are a bit overbuilt for many. +1 on the bar choice, drops are almost never the answer IMO.

Thorn have made so many models over the years, and kept some names over different iterations so it gets very complicated. The Thorn forum is fairly quiet but there's some knowledge there worth asking about bikes you see for sale.

Agree with @Hornsweep that a lot of the earlier bikes Thorn made are really great - and lugged or fillet-brazed in the UK by reputable builders out of Reynolds tubing. The later ones are welded, abroad, often out of thorn's propriatory tubes. This might not bother you. It's probably bollocks to care about such things. I have a Raven Tour waiting to be built that's welded, looks great. Jyst been putting it off as I already have too many bikes including a lovely Thorn eXp.

Club Tour is a great all-round bike, I sold mine (well it was too small, the gumtree one is Sudbury would have been better for me, a great bike and worth thinking about that one). Look out for Raven Sport Tour if you want to go in the middle rugged/weight wise.