Probable Height of cyclist in mm suitable for this size.
Frame size
Slope Seat Tube C to C
Virtual top tube
BB Drop
Seat Angle
Chain Stay
Mid-Tube
S/O (Standover
height)
Height of
top tube @ junction with head
tube
500S 90 410 530 70 74 436 740 765 1575 to
1675 500L 90 410 565 70 73.5 441 740 765
1615 to
1710
520S 80 440 540 70 73.5 439 755 785
520L 80 440 580 70 73 444 755 785
1660 to
1780
550S 70 480 550 70 73 442 785 815
550L 70 480 590 70 72.5 447 785 815
1730 to
1835
580S 60 520 560 65 73 445 820 842
580L 60 520 600 65 72.5 450 820 842
1790 to
1905
610S 50 560 575 65 72.5 448 850 865
610L 50 560 615 65 72 453 850 865
Club Tour Mk4
Actual luggage capacities.
The maximum weight that a Club Tour Mk4 ought to carry for short periods of time (The first day of a desert crossing for
example) is 43kg. This load should be spread as follows:-
25kg on a suitable rear carrier, 6 kg each side of the fork, on lo-loader carriers 3Kg in bottle cages and 3kg in a bar bag.
Please note that, if you load the bike with 25kg on
the rear, without any luggage at the front, the
handling could be seriously compromised.
Whilst the Club Tour Mk4 is happy to carry 33kg day after
day, it handles superbly with 24kg, spread between the
front and rear, a small, very lightly loaded bar bag and 3 x 700ml bottles.
The Club Tour still handles really well with a rear-only load
of around 14kg and brilliantly well, if the 14kg is spread
between a large saddlebag and small panniers. If 14kg is as much as you need and you choose the 853 forks, I believe
that you’ll find the CT Mk4 to be the ultimate long distance,
derailleur-equipped, fast touring bike - especially on back roads, when fitted with 35c tyres.
FORK
OPTIONS
Fork 5. Thorn MER853VC
steel “V” (and Canti) brake
fork. Reynolds 853c blades
and steerer
Andy says “The most comfortable forks I’ve ever ridden. Light and comfortable yet very strong and reliable…
...a premium product offered at a
premium price.”
There are 2 offsets:- 52mm for Short
frames...46mm for Long frames.
The forks are offered in Gunmetal Imron, Red Imron, Blue Imron and BRG (British Racing Green) Imron. Stainless fittings for direct fastening of mudguards.
NOTE NO Lo-loader
bosses. Tyres up to 35c with ‘guards.
Fork 4. Thorn Reynolds
Super Tourist steel touring
fork with V brake,
mudguard and lo-loader
bosses.
This fork must be used with a front V or Cantilever brake...straight bars or drop bars may be chosen. The forks are offered in Gunmetal Imron, Red Imron, Blue Imron and BRG (British Racing Green) Imron.
This fork can carry 7.5kg per side.
A full mudguard, can be fitted with this fork. Ideal tyre size 32– 38c. Max tyre size 40c semi slick.
Fork 6. Thorn Reynolds
HEAVY DUTY steel touring
fork with ISO DISC MOUNT
m/g and lo-loader bosses.
This fork must be used with a front DISC BRAKE...straight bars or drop bars may be chosen. There are 2 offsets:-
52mm for Short frames...46mm for Long
frames. We resisted designing a steel disc fork - because we knew that a reliable disc fork couldn’t be as comfortable as our Reynolds Super Tourist V brake fork...and it’s not! However, it’s as comfortable as any other reliable steel disc fork and it’s more comfortable than most! The forks are offered in Gunmetal Imron, Red Imron, Blue Imron and BRG (British Racing Green) Imron
This fork can carry 5kg per side. A full
mudguard, can be fitted with this fork. Ideal tyre size 32– 38c. Max tyre size 40c semi slick.
For more information and photos of each fork, please look at pages 28 & 29 For details of our LIFETIME frame warranty and 14 day money back guarantee see page 67 of the MEGA BROCHURE - The link is on page 1 of this brochure.
STOP PRESS
You may now choose any
Schwalbe Tubed tyres to be fitted to
your CLUB TOUR - without any upcharge.
Upgrades to the latest Schwalbe
TUBELESS TYRES, with appropriate
rims are available as upgrades, please see pages 41, 42, 43 & 97 of the Mega Brochure.
THORN CLUB TOUR Mk4
Fork offset for each frame size/fork option
Mk4 has Choice of 3 forks
Frame
Size Fork 4
THORN ST700
Fork 5 THORN MER 853VC
Fork 6 THORN
STEEL
DISC
Fork offset required in mm
500S 55 52 52
500L 50 46 46
520S 55 52 52
520L 50 46 46
550S 55 52 52
550L 46 46 46
580S 50 52 52
580L 46 46 46
610S 50 52 52
610L 46 46 46
3
Thorn Club Tour Mk4
Colour and finish
The Club Tour Mk4 frames and all 3 fork options, are available in a choice of 3 finishes; Gunmetal, R&B or BRG (British Racing Green). The Gunmetal finish has a deep lustre, which appears to change from silver to deep pewter, depending upon lighting. Understated black decals complete the sophisticated look. The R&B finish is Cobalt Blue Imron at the rear and Blood Red Imron at the front. There’s a 6mm white diagonal line separating these colours. R&B forks have a red crown and blue blades. The decals are red, whit and blue. This is a much livelier finish! But it still looks classy and somehow patriotic.
We’ve re-introduced BRG as a frame colour. (Pictures
will follow soon) The frames look both classic and very understated with their black decals and hi-gloss finish. All frames are treated internally with a rust inhibitor; the outside surfaces are sprayed with a rust-inhibiting primer. The frames are then sprayed with highly-durable Du Pont Imron twin pack polyester paint, as used on aircraft. The decals, including Reynolds 725 decals, are then applied and sealed into the finish, with twin pack
THORN Mk4 SPECIALS
With 30 speed gearing
We’ve sourced a “Deore equivalent” high quality triple chainset, with 26/36/48t rings for use on all Club Tour Mk4 options. Shimano 10sp road cassettes only go up to 30 teeth. We prefer to use
even lower gears on touring bikes. The
spread of gears we can offer with an 11-36t is greater than anything offered by any other manufacturer - we’ve had to “think outside the box” because we know how useful it is to have really low gears, in severe terrain - especially with touring loads and, even more especially, when you’re really tired!
[1] Straight Bars with
Rapidfire shifters.
We use Shimano Deore 10sp Rapidfire shifters, Deore 10sp front mech and 10sp Shadow rear mech with this spec. “V” brakes, Avid BB 7 cable operated MTB disc brakes, or our highly recommended option - a combination of front V brake and rear MTB disc, may be selected with this option. Although I’ve not included this in the brochure, you could also choose hydraulic disc brakes but I firmly believe that there’s no need to fit these on any road going bike - Avid BB 7 cable operated disc brakes have more than sufficient power...you can lock either wheel with these brakes if you try! Cable operated discs are also affected less by high temperature heat build up, as there is no brake fluid to boil off. In fact my preference is for a front
“V” brake and a cable operated rear
disc. You can save wear on your
rims, you can descend safely in
appalling conditions and crucially,
you can still use comfortable forks -
It’s the best of all worlds!
Hydraulic disc brake levers look strange, if not fitted as a pair, there’s no point in having a hydraulic rear disc and a front V brake. A choice of straight bars fitted with the excellent Ergon GP1L grips completes the straight bar-specific options.
[2] Drop Bars with Dura
Ace bar end shifters.
We use Shimano Dura Ace 10sp bar end shifter with Tektro drop bar MTB levers and a Tiagra 10sp long cage front mech. We still have to use Shimano Deore 9 speed MTB rear derailleurs, to work perfectly with Shimano 10sp bar end levers but the Tektro brake levers allow the use of “V” brakes, Avid BB 7 cable operated MTB disc brakes, or our highly recommended option - a combination of front V brake and rear MTB disc. Bar end shifters give the entire transmission a considerably longer service life. High quality bars, stem and black cork tape are included.
[3] Drop Bars with STI
We use Shimano Tiagra 10sp STI (ROAD) levers and a Tiagra 10sp long cage front mech. All 10sp STI levers have a different cable pull ratio to 10sp Rapidfire (MTB) levers, however Shimano Deore 9 speed MTB rear derailleurs work perfectly with Shimano 10sp STI levers. On the CT Mk4, the STI road brake levers must be used with either cantilever brakes, Avid BB 7 cable operated ROAD disc brakes or our highly recommended option - with a front canti and rear road disc. High quality bars, stem and black cork tape are included.
Note a 12-28 cassette and 10sp
Tiagra medium cage rear mech may
be chosen if required with either of
the 2 drop bar specs but,
PLEASE ALSO NOTE that the Tiagra
mech won’t ever work with MTB
cassettes.
TRANSMISSION CHOICES.
We offer 2 different options:- ###
[i] 30Sp ULTRA WIDE range gearing
Our 26/36/48 chain set, when combined with 11-36 10sp MTB cassette gives an absolutely awesome range of gears - 19" to 117" This 100% Shimano transmission works really well and should give most people a gear for every situation likely to be encountered on the CT Mk4
[ii] 30Sp WIDE range gearing
If you want a tighter spread of gears, we can substitute a Shimano Tiagra 12-28 cassette. On either of the drop bar options, we can substitute the Deore rear mech with a medium cage Tiagra mech. This gives gears from 25" to 107".
CT Mk4 30 speed Spec Options
At the “START PRICE”, you may choose either;-
[1] Straight bars with “Rapidfire”
or [2] Drop bars with bar end shifters. ##
[3] Alternatively, you may PAY FOR the upgrade to
Drop bars with TIAGRA STI levers, on your CT Mk4. ### Usually, drop bars require SHORT frames - whilst straight bars generally require LONG frames; although, many women prefer a short frame, with a 110 or 120mm stem, for straight bars.
There’s a huge amount
of detailed information,
available, including the
cost of 100’s of options
and upgrades -
it’s online,
in the Mega Brochure.
MUDGUARD CLEARANCES
PLEASE READ THIS. ##
The Club Tour Mk4 frames and forks handle beautifully, the geometry varies sensibly and precisely, with each size of frame.
PLEASE NOTE:- All LONG sizes of Club Tour Mk4
frames have deliberately been designed not to have “toe overlap”, even when the rider has larger than average size feet (for their height) and trainers are being used with flat pedals. On average, foot size increases with the height of an individual and, quite reasonably, we expect taller riders to ride larger frames, therefore toe clearance increases with the size of Club Tour Mk4 frames. Persons with exceptionally large feet, for their height, may have to use “proper cycling shoes” and/or restrict tyre width, to avoid toe overlap. If this is unacceptable, these customers should consider our Thorn Sherpa 26” wheel touring bikes, which, by virtue of their smaller diameter wheels, have even more toe clearance.
The SHORT sizes of Club Tour Mk4 don’t have so
much toe clearance, these sizes will, almost certainly, be ridden either by women, who almost invariably, have smaller feet than men of the same height, or by men using drop bars. I think that it’s reasonable to expect cyclists riding with drop bars, to be using
cycling shoes. The SHORT sizes may not have
sufficient toe clearance for male cyclists using flat pedals and fat tyres, whilst wearing trainers.
Quick, rugged, versatile,
nimble, practical, durable
and comfortable -
the CLUB TOUR is our
contemporary take on an
established British icon -
the Traditional Touring Bike!
A superb derailleur-geared,
Record Breaking* Traditional touring bike.
Here’s Scott’s own account - remember he bought his Club Tour with his own money. We didn’t sponsor him and he rode unsupported - this is probably the sporting achievement of the century! “To break the world record for cycling the length of the Americas I chose a Thorn Club Tour. Purchasing the bike was simple and easy. I spoke with Robin on the phone and discussed the various options for the groupset, wheels, etc. Robin's experience was extremely valuable in making these choices. I found the Club Tour to be strong, but not excessively heavy, a perfect blend for going fast with a fairly beefy load. During the 14,000 mile cycle I was continually impressed with the level of comfort afforded to me by the Club Tour. Despite spending upwards of 10 hours in the saddle every day for 125 days I had virtually no shoulder or back pain of note. For me, the Thorn Club Tour provides everything you would need for one of the world’s longest time trials: strength, reliability, comfort and value for money. Who would have thought having a Thorn stuck between my legs would be so pleasurable…” Scott Napier 15-1-2010
*I certainly didn’t know that I was
designing a time-trial bike, when I created our previous Club Tour! (The Mk3) But Scott Napier bought a Club Tour from us and then used it to become the new
Guinness
World Record
Holder, for cycling the #####
Pan American Highway.
14,050 miles from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego in 125 days - Scott smashed 15 days off the previous record!
![Mk4 Construction and Operation 3[1]](https://static.documents.pub/doc/80x56/577ce6451a28abf10392873a/mk4-construction-and-operation-31.jpg)
