Thorn bikes and headset spacers

They always seem to have done this but I’ve never really understood why.

There must be more aesthetically pleasing ways of getting the riders hands at that height?

And structurally stronger ways too.

because thorn as a company are stuck in 1985.

their frames were designed once and have changed very little. the raven enduro i have is bloody awful to ride(came effectively free with a rohloff i bought). Heads down , arse up short top tube massive stem and long chainstays with zero mud clearance.* Id also like to point out that heads down, arse up , short travel and long stems are how most of my bikes look but this one just has all the wrong angles.

its like someone forgot to tell them times changed.

]This:

belongs to my friend, he is 6’7″ though and it’s actually a little on the small side..

he is 6’7″ though

thing is they seem to be designed to work like this on all sizes, not just for the extremes.

It’s like there’s some sort of fundamental geometry decision that’s been made and the stem spacers are a by-product of that.

There was an interview with the designer in a bike mag years ago but I don’t remember any real explanation as to why he’d done this.

their frames were designed once and have changed very little. the raven enduro i have is bloody awful to ride(came effectively free with a rohloff i bought). Heads down , arse up short top tube massive stem and long chainstays with zero mud clearance.* Id also like to point out that heads down, arse up , short trave

Weren’t they offering 100 days to return the bike if you didn’t like it ? If it’s that bad why did you keep it ?

It was bought used for the hub…but i rode it till my ragley td-1 arrived which is also heads down arse up but has the right angles

I did email thorn at the time and was told i was wrong about everything.

Fair enough . I had a Raven Enduro and found both the frame and hub alright but I was certainly quicker on my other MTB that I had at the time .

I think Thorn do it expecting their customers to eventually cut the steerer tube down to a length that suits them. My Sherpa touring bike came with a long steerer and when I finally get round to rebuilding it I will cut it shorter. I’ve just shifted the stem down a bit until then.

They are a bit old fashioned at Thorn and their designer is fond on writing STEEL IS REAL in bold capitals in their brochures but I’ve had my Sherpa for 8 years and to be fair it has done everything I’ve asked of it. It does sadly weigh more than the moon however.

My cousin used to work for them many years ago. He still uses bikes he got from them over 20 years ago. I thought if people buy something that looks so ugly it can only be because it’s a really good bike. On that basis and with my cousins recommendation I wanted a Raven Enduro too but ….I have gone and bought a cross bike instead so that is Thorn off the agenda. ….for a while 🙂