'Red Thorn' Sherpa comes to life

After some delay owing partly to my laziness, procrastination, etc., the Thorn Sherpa frameset from Somerset, England, eventually comes to life. The latest build adds to the all-chromoly, ''Steel is Real'' stable in my crazy quest for bike use and cycling enthusiasm -- leisure, travelling, exercising and the usual crazy bike-to-work commuting. This latest stable member was properly christened "Red Thorn" apparently to conform with its physical character. But in our native Thai vernacular "Thorn" is rarely a proper noun and rather means more commonly like the Brits would mention about the thing "in your side".

ธอร์น เชอร์ปา 'หนามแดง' เป็นตัวตนขึ้นมาในที่สุด

หลังจากถ่วงเวลามานาน ชุดเฟรม ธอร์น เชอร์ปา จากอังกฤษได้ฤกษ์ประกอบอุปกรณ์ต่างๆ ขึ้นเป็นตัวตนจนได้ มันได้รับสมญานามแบบไทยๆ อย่างเรียบง่ายมาแต่ต้นแล้วว่า "หนามแดง" หรือ "Red Thorn" ตามสภาพทางกายภาพของมัน สงสัยว่าบางทีอาจต้องเรียกมันว่า "น้องหนามแดง" หรือ "ไอ้หนามแดง" บ้าง แล้วแต่โอกาส หรืออารมณ์ศิลปินที่อาจเกิดขึ้นบ้าง



A genuine leather "honey" Brooks Champion Flyer saddle is installed after a lengthy period of "curing and ageing" the material by way of "unweighted treatment" prior to the real "breaking-in" process on the bike naturally with a biker's weight. I've read countless narrative accounts from those who have vast experience in "maturing" the Brooks but I couldn't remember anybody who has done something like this crazy "nurturing" process: coating it with the Brooks Proofide leather dressing -- heavily on the underside, lightly on the outside skin, sunbathing the saddle on both sides for a few hours a day then rubbing and massaging the outer skin with microfibre fabric or fine-filament cloth each day (I used the one commonly utilised in jewellery polishing). Applying massage strength invariably all over the finished outer skin, I repeated the process religiously time and again, day in and day out, when I'm not biking, working or having nothing else to do. (Maybe I tended to this particular saddle overzealously with these steps too many times. However, I didn't dare to go so far as some Brooks enthusiasts as to boil the saddle in neatfoot's oil, bake it in a baker's oven or burn it with spotlights, charcoal, or dip it in some strange, untrustworthy substance, etc. No, no.)

ติดตั้งอาน Brooks หลังจากผ่านการ "บ่ม" หลายๆ รอบ คือ ทาครีม Proofide บางๆ แล้วตากแดด ขัดผิวและนวดด้วยผ้าไมโครไฟเบอร์เนื้อละเอียดหลายครั้ง ทำอย่างนี้สี่ห้ารอบ ต้องระวังไม่ให้ชะโลมครีมมากจนเกินไปในแต่ละครั้ง









The double-stem, trekking handle-bar set is donated from its cousin in the stable -- Surly Long Haul Trucker, who turns to use a touring drop bar with 9sp bar-end shifters.

สเต็มคู่และแฮนด์ปีกผีเสื้อถอดมาจาก รถ Surly Long Haul Trucker ในคอกเดียวกัน LHT จะหันไปใช้แฮนด์หมอบ




The heavy-set "Red Thorn" Sherpa is proud to be installed with super-light bike part bits -- some carbon spacers in the headset.

เจ้า "หนามแดง" เชอร์ปา มีอุปกรณ์คาร์บอนกะเขาซะด้วย แหวนคอคาร์บอนแปดวง คงจะเป็นชิ้นส่วนที่เบาที่สุดของมัน แค่นี้มันก็คงดีใจแล้ว





A Shimano Deore SLX 9-speed drivetrain set is installed for the Sherpa.


The Sherpa frameset doesn't embrace some universal accessories wholeheartedly as I earlier expected. It takes me hours of tweaking, squeezing and forceful adjusting to fit in a pair of German-made SKS mudguards including a French-made Zefal rear bike pannier rack. The SKS mudguard itself seems to be a good quality product with a proper design to fit most bikes in general but it comes with a horrible, brief and terse installation manual that I think would confuse even bike mechanics who are not familiar with the proprietary installation system. Maybe good only to German "bike engineers".


I found out from my LBS mechanic that the frameset had no problems in the assembly of all major equipment. I did the rest of the fitting for other optional accessories myself. Apart from the painstaking installation of the mudguards and rear pannier rack described above, during the fitting of water bottle cages one of the screw sockets needed a kind of soft "retapping" of the screw threads because of a thicker-than-usual paint layer clogging the socket threads (unseen from outside). A minor hurdle.






I could say that I'm now a proud owner of a Thorn Sherpa touring bike ready for many purposes from leisure, road travelling to expedition trekking. This might be the first Thorn Sherpa frameset hailing from Somerset, England, to be assembled as a complete bike in Bangkok, Thailand. I'm very much happy with the setup, sizing, fitting and everything -- all appear to be correct. Following an initial round-the-block test ride, the "Red Thorn" Sherpa has already shown promises that it should turn out to be one of the top travelling companions of mine; and hopefully it wouldn't become anything like a Thorn "in my side".

A full-scale test ride would be done in a near future.