Thorn Adventure Tandem

The 'Adventure' has been a great bike to ride with very little problems to report. The finish is escellent and the frame is beautifully built; it's fast and giving. Perfect for desert crossings and rolling hills, by nature of it's weight a tandem is harder work in the mountains. However, it's excellent handling surprised us off-road and there were few places we weren't able to venture. Naturally, the very nature of a tandem as opposed to a solo bike constitutes much of the enjoyment (and frustrations!) of riding such a steed. Our first tour on a tandem, it's proved quite an experience! Attracting many a crowd of admirers, the tandem has been a magnet for curiosity and laughter, breaking the ice with even with the most solemn-looking border official on many an occasion - 'The Limo', as it's become known.

As we expected, parts have worn. Half-way through the trip, the drag brake cable frayed at the end and a replacement was needed. With the tandem's considerable weight, this extra third brake has been crucial for long descents and works excellently. The components - a mixture of XT, LX and Deore - have all coped very well with the varied road and weather conditions. On muddy, rainy descents, we have worn through several pairs brake pads, so we would recommend carrying a good stockpile. The tandem's long brake cables have needed greasing occasionally to keep them running smoothly. Thorn's own sturdy steel racks have been perfect, with tightening needed once in a while. The front rack is particularly recommended. The Adventure has braze-ons for 3 water bottles - ideally, another would be squeezed in for hotter weather. The 48 spoke Sun Rhyno Rims have been faultless, surviving rock-strewn descents with a full load whilst staying true. The rims themselves are barely worn through. Although we have rarely needed our Schmidt Dynamo hub, it too comes highly recommended for it's power and efficiency ratio.

Our Brooks saddles, on the other hand, have been purgatory! Sporadically comfy for the first few thousand kilometres, it has become a battle waged between us and them. There are several models available, so perhaps the spring cushioned version would be preferable. We have met tourers who have been delighted with their Brooks - one after 9, 000km (!) and another from the day he first sat on it! All we can say is, each to their own! However, it should be noted that on a tandem, considerably more time is spent with seat to saddle than a solo bike, so the 'saddle factor' is an important consideration. We would recommend a suspension seat post for the stocker, who rarely sees the bumps ahead and cannot brace for them.

Over the trip, we have been running a combination of Panaracer 1.75 Highroad slicks and Vredestein 1.90 Spyders. We chose the wider Panaracers for their comfort and speed as well as their ability to fold down. For good highways, such as much of Iran, they've been excellent. The Spyders have been a better all rounder, fast enough on asphalt with enough side-grip for loose gravel, and a thick tread which has barely worn through.

However, Kygyzstan's incredibly rocky trails understandably proved too much and we ended up blowing both sidewalls. In hindsight, for our trip the versatile Spyders would have been more useful as a day to day road tyre, with two chunkier off road models for emergencies. Generally, we've been running extra thick Michelin tubes. A little heavy, they've worked well - we have only had a few punctures across kilometres of thorn riddled deserts and glass ridden roads. The only disadvantage we see is that they can be hard to repair once they are pierced, due to their thick rubber.

We found the rear chain is exposed to considerably more wear (from the extra torque) on a tandem than with a solo bike, and recommend rotating with spare chains regularly for prolonged life of the cassette. The front chain, which stays in one plane, lasts considerably longer and only occasionally needs tightening using the elliptical bottom bracket - a very easy procedure. We clean the drivetrain regularly and have been using Finish Line's heavier green capped oil for 'extreme' weather and long distance riding.