Here is a picture of me and my bike. Bridget has the same - his and hers - how embarrassing. Anyway I'm wondering whether to give it/her/him a name? I think she is probably a she. She's a Thorn Sherpa, with Thorn expedition racks, Brookes Saddle, Marathon tyres etc. We have ortlieb panniers and an ortlieb rack pack. I have an ortlieb handle bar bag with a camera insert. I have been riding it to work and seems very comfortable - all be it over a very short distance and completely unladen.Anyway back to the name. On the list of possibilities at the moment are Arwen, Galadriel, Arethra (is that how you spell it?), Mable (after my gran), Edith (after my other gran) or Horlicks (stupid but I was thinking along the lines of being reassuring and soothing which actually isn't really appropriate now I think about it). Anyway I think I will have a naming ceremony just before we leave so I have a bit of time to decide.
Choosing the bikes was difficult. So many options. The Internet is awash with information and blogs about what is good and not so good and the more you read the less consensus you find. We ended up deciding on a price, looking for steel frames, somewhere we could try one and a company designing expedition bikes. In the end the price was the most limiting factor and we probably had a choice of two makes.
Of course having bought them I have spent the time since worrying I have made the wrong decision. Something not helped by a rather "knowing" sales rep in a bike shop who cast string aspersions on the quality of Thorn products and some of the claims they make in their sales brief. Of course he made touring bikes himself and I hadn't bought one of his (I didn't come across his product when researching) so he may have had his own agenda, but it was like a worm burrowing into my head. My concerns haven't been helped either by reading the blog Project Bike. Matt is cycling in China and South East Asia at the moment having made his way from the UK. He's been going almost a year and has had it seems a number of problems with his bike which just so happens to be a Thorn Sherpa. His list includes issues with the wheels, a snapped rear derailleur and a number of other technical difficulties.
His route is more arduous than ours and I don't know how well he's looked after it but it has worried me to see the number of problems he's had. I am going on a bike maintenance course and will be taking great care of both our bikes but still wonder whether we should have found more money from somewhere and bought more expensive models. This is typical me and I know what ever bike I had bought I'd be worrying about my decision. So it will be a case of suck it and see.
