The Classic British Touring Bike

Got a pristine CBTB that will be ready on Sunday for a week long tour starting on Thursday.
Nigel Dean built Geoffrey Butler frame, Deore group, DA shifters, Sputnik rims etc etc.
Pics to follow.

Not super old (2004) but built in Britain by Lee Cooper for Thorn who are British. Need one size down...490S but it's lovely thing to ride. The megashort stem just makes it a bit too jittery on drop bars.

Here's my Geoffrey Butler built up. Taking it out for it's first touring adventure in two days time.

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/4097/i0h5.jpg

Completely forgot about the bloody mudguards. I thought it didn't look right.

Where you heading, sorethroat?

Not a long one this time, cycling along the South coast to Cornwall.

Sounds good. I did some of the south east coast earlier in the year, mostly around sussex and kent though. Where are you starting out from? I know a great campsite just outside Brighton...

Here's my Geoffrey Butler built up. Taking it out for it's first touring adventure in two days time.

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/4097/i0h5.jpg

Love this. Sputniks are darned heavy huh!

And that Thorn ^ ...^

^ Very nice, is that a Biopace crankset?

Maybe we should go and hijack the porn thread and dump in some tourers along with the track/road bikes ;)

I can't quite figure out what the appeal is of the Thorn. It should be ugly as sin on paper (neither road nor MTB geo, no bling, 26" wheels, massive clearance gaps, against all usual cycling aesthetic rules) but it I've grown to like the looks of it.

A lot of nice bikes here. Can't wait to get one built up myself

I bagged meself a 1980s F.W. Evans light touring/sensible road frame. It's perfect (well, it doesn't have canti mounts, but otherwise perfect) but I can't find any information about it... it has a Tange headset, TA cranks, campagnolo dropouts, double eyelets front and back, and 531 double butted throughout. I can't find any catalogues on google - can anyone point me in the right direction?

It looks like this:

Also, is it possible to get canti mounts added, or will it over-stress the 531db forks/stays? This is purely a mechanical speculation regarding a 650b conversion (the brake drop would be something like 80mm were I to use calipers)... it may turn out not to be economically viable, anyway.

I've cantis on my 531 forks.Mine are built for low riders too, if your bike can't carry anything on the forks these may be built differently with less material.

You'd probably need to ask a framebuilder.

Must you have cantis? I know they are "de rigeur" for tourers, but loaded audax riders seem happy enough with their road style brakes :)

If I were to go for a 650b conversion, then the brake drop would be too long for calipers.

I think I may just keep the frame as an audax bike and use my proposed 29er for loaded touring.

It all depends on how much you need to carry, generally back only bikes can happily carry 10 KG. You may need to back off a little in corners etc as there's only a back load.

Your 29er takes front loaders? I haven't seen many that can, Giant had a model that could years ago with suspension forks but it wasn't a commercial success.

I don't have a 29er, but I do have a CAD model, and a TIG welder, and an industrial sewing machine to make the bags. Doesn't fit into this thread, though; I was just daydreaming about what would happen if I tried to fit 650b wheels on my FW Evans.

Would be interested to see Giant's proposal.

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/de-at/bikes/model/expedition.at/9410/50162/

They did an old model too I can't remember the name now, but one was on e-bay recently, sometimes pops up on Gumtree and sold for £350 I believe.

There's a nice piece about Isla Fisher's custom 853 '29er' roughstuff tourer in the new ctc mag. It's lush.

Custom 853. I bet it's lush but...I'd hope you get lush for lots of £££££ :)

Thar reminds me, need to renew membership.

Maybe we should go and hijack the porn thread and dump in some tourers along with the track/road bikes ;)

I can't quite figure out what the appeal is of the Thorn. It should be ugly as sin on paper (neither road nor MTB geo, no bling, 26" wheels, massive clearance gaps, against all usual cycling aesthetic rules) but it I've grown to like the looks of it.

I think some tpuring pron does make it into there from time to time. Seen Edscoble's 650b randonneur? It deserves to be on there. I had a little spin on it at souths. It's marvellous.

I can TOTALLY see why your Thorn looks good to you. I think they're fantastic bikes. I'd rather have 700/29er wheels on mind. With muguards.

Oldskool Randonneurs are generally fabulous! :) Can't find it in his profile somewhere up here?

Thorn Club Tour has 700C wheels and lots of clearance if you need biggish tires. Their Audax can take front loads and mudguards.

Come on...come to the Dark Side...come to the Thorn Forums Sales Thread...

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/thorn-new-ex-display-used-cycles-and-framesets-dept671_pg1/
http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/forums/index.php?board=16.0

PS Those FW Evans light tourers were re-issued recently. The originals are lovely.

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/de-at/bikes/model/expedition.at/9410/50162/

This is wonderful. Much better solution than mounting the rack to the stanchions. The downside is that you probably can't buy one, and even if you can, it's based on a so-so fork.

I wonder if I could base something around a fork with a bolt-on crown. This is just thinking aloud. I'm not even sure whether I want the front load on the fork or the frame. Perhaps just some small bottle-carriers on the crown.

The FW Evans is indeed a nice frame - mine's a bit worse for wear at the moment and ideally needs painting. That'll have to wait for a loooooooooong time though.

Me & mini-Skully at the top of Devil's Dyke this morning at 11. Had an awesome (really, literally in awe) ride up there this morning, from a campsite in Lewes, on my EG Bates and his Dave Yates tagalong. Yesterday from SE London to Blackberry Woods was quite a long ride, hard hard work! All that kit, 50 miles, a heavy as f bike, plus kid on the back who was not always pedalling that hard. Rode from DD to hove beach, had a swim in tropical sun, then train home.

About 75 miles in all. So knackered, a bit sunburned, pretty ecstatic.

Man that looks awesome, literally.
Strong work with a nipper on the back as well.

Yeah, I'm knackered!