Our New Bikes (Thorn Sherpas)

Finally, we get to try out our Thorn Sherpas. We ordered these bikes about a year and a half ago. The reason for this was the economic crisis. The British pound was low and the price of the Sherpa was going up. At least that what it said on the website. So, we just went for it and got the bikes delivered here at my father's place. The delivery company was totally incompetent. They were not able to find my father's address (an address that shows up in Google maps). It took my father some significant effort to get them delivered properly. Really stressful and annoying when you're thousands of kilometers away.

When assembling the bikes I realized that one of the them had a bent derailleur hanger. Damage from transport I guess. The warranty was no longer available but Mr Thorn was very helpful. Returning my emails within an hour. He sent me pictures and instructions on how to bend it back. The bend was not too bad and I was able get it straightened out using a wrench (or spanner) and a set of pliers. Using the brand new derailleur as a lever was not an option.

Once put together we realized that the brakes are reversed. Will take some time to get use to it I guess. But in the mean time we have to be careful not to fly over our handlebars when slamming on the back brake. One annoying thing is that the braking system does not come with barrel adjusters. Something I really like to have when fine tuning brakes. The side wall of our rims is ceramic. Brake pads for ceramic rim are really expensive. 25 British pounds for a set of four. That's like almost fifty bucks! When choosing the frame I went for the smaller one. I choose the 560S (55 cm top tube) rather then the 535L ( 57 cm top tube). The bike feels really nice but I'll probably end up getting a slightly longer stem. So maybe the 535L would have been the better choice. At this point, I don't really care. We haven't tried them fully loaded yet but I can already tell they're going to be amazing bikes. Enjoy these pictures that include a nice view of the Mt Aiguille in the background.