The Thorn Me'n'u2 is every inch a proper bike, well specified, well built and with a wealth of experience behind its design which mean that you can get on and ride as far as you like with complete confidence. It is reassuringly free of those small defects which leave you thinking that the designer has never tried to use the product, the options list makes sense, and above all the bike is 100% fit for purpose. Which is, after all, is what it's all about.

You can see some pictures of us racing ours on the Cyclefest page.

Our Megabike

The Megabike was added to the family stable in March 2003 following a visit to St. John Street Cycles in Bridgewater, Somerset, where the Thorn range is made. In this surprisingly large, rambling shop / warehouse / factory resides the UK's largest manufacturer of tandems. Robin Thorn and his staff have a depth of knowledge of the touring market which puts them in the top echelon nationally, and the Thorn range are well built, well specified, ride nicely (the Voyager childback tandem rides better than many solos) and are in every way classic British touring machines in the best traditions. I believe they are the largest UK supplier of tandems.

One has the impression that the first one was built for Robin's family (who feature prominently in the literature), but this is in no sense a toy or novelty bike. It is a pretty substantial machine, some 20" longer than a standard tandem (the rearmost seat set well down in front of the rear wheel) and riding it feels a bit like piloting the Queen Mary at times, but Felicity, a slight 5'4" and with less than two years' experience of cycling, has taken to it surprisingly well. I find it rides a lot like a full-size adult tandem (OK I've only really tried that with blind or inexperienced stokers), or maybe a recumbent - you steer much more with the handlebars than on a solo, and less by simply leaning. That much is natural with a bike this long. And if you are riding on Sustrans paths, get the gate key if you can as the Me'n'u2 is a handful in a tight space.

Remember, though, that none of this would be an issue if this weren't a proper bike. This is definitely a machine on which you can confidently set out on a club ride or tour, knowing that it will be up to the job. Heavy? Of course it is, but it has a strong and well-specified groupset, capable brakes, tough 48-spoke 26" wheels and is rigid enough to take potholes and uneven surfaces in its stride. We've even loaded a full-size family tent on the back, lashed across the rack and the second stoker seat, and ridden it home. This bike is tough!

At Robin's suggestion we had two stems fitted, short reach for Felicity and long reach for me. We also added water bottles, mudguards, a rack and - top accessory - a drag brake. If you buy no other add-on for your Me'n'u2, get the drag brake. Neither of us are particularly enamoured of twist-grip gears so we also had it built with standard indexed levers, which fit in perfectly well, and we swapped the clips & straps for Zéfal toecups. I'm sure clips & straps are better on longer tours, but we hop on and off quite frequently and Michael in particular is a big lad, so the ability for the kids to get their feet out and down quickly is appreciated. We added the Thorn rack as well. Now you will think me strange for this but in my view the rack is one of the best bits of the bike. It is perfect in every detail. Stiff, well designed, fits the bike, the top is level, it has a proper double light plate at the back (also an extra) and it doesn't even hint at twisting when you load it with heavy panniers. It even has braze-ons for mudguards. The whole installation is neat, tidy and in every way "just so" - a perfect example of the kind of thought that goes into the design and build of Thorn bikes.

The bike is fitted with double-drilled cranks for the stokers as standard, which work well, and telescopic stoker stems. It has Sun Rhyno rims and a choice of tyres; we opted for the Panaracer Pasela, having found the Hi-Road to be rather vulnerable to flint punctures. The hubs are Shimano as are the V-brakes and levers, the rear mech. is Acera and the front is a SunTour with an unusually long cage. Again, all parts are properly fitted, aligned squarely with the bike, and clear the frame correctly. No scrapes on the chainstay from the front mech. cage, for example, which is a fault I've seen on other bikes. Proper SRAM chains, too, and braze-ons for everything you can think of and then some. The front forks alone have three full width threaded braze-ons for lowriders, plus mudguard eyelets, a dynamo plate and the brake pivots. This bike was designed by a tourist and no mistake!

We took the bike as delivered and rode it straight away. Always a good sign! The gears worked, everything was tight and properly fitted. Then, being us, we tweaked it a little... Michael (middle stokid) thought his saddle a bit small, so we picked up a small adult saddle like the one on his solo for a tenner. Add a Cateye Astrale for Michael, a bell for Peter, two lengths of thin bungee cord between the pedals (60p a metre from Carters of Reading, bargain!) and a lollipop on the back (see picture). And of course some lights.

Only one problem remains: where to park it! At present it lives in the kitchen with my recumbent, or in the bike shed. It just about goes round the corners to the bike shed, where it is an inch-perfect fit.

At the same time we bought a Pendle tandem roofrack and the Thorn bolt-on extender bar to take the Me'n'u2. Just as well we have a Volvo estate! I would be wary of lifting this big a bike onto the roof of anything higher than the Volvo and carrying it on the roof of anything much shorter. As it is, the bike and the car are a perfect match. The roofbars mount on the best-supported parts of the roof, the rear wheel clears the tailgate when open, and the front wheel doesn't intrude into the line of sight from the front. And you can open the sunroof and check everything's OK on top any time you like. Surprisingly little wind noise, too, even with a wide nylon load strap wrapped around the bike to provide additional bracing.

We've only had a couple of issues with the bike thus far: the paint is powder coat so the finish neither as smooth nor as glossy as one might like, it suffers chain suck, which is just one of those things (a Tekro anti-jam plate is on order), and we would like to fit a Pletscher double-leg stand but the cables under the rear BB look as if they would interfere, and in any case the chain jam plate goes where this would fit (plus Robin advises against, and he does know what he's talking about). Also the front mudguard stays don't have the ESGE breakaway mountings, they are mounted halfway up the back of the fork blade instead. These are niggles, though - the bike is pukka and we love it.

Customer service has been flawless. The bike was ordered on a Monday afternoon and delivered three days later fully fitted, a longer seatpost was dispatched by return on request (at no charge, I might add), and every question by email has been answered promptly and efficiently. I know there are some people[1] who have issues with SJS and with Robin Thorn in particular, but anyone who is even remotely fair-minded would have to admit that he knows his stuff, and this bike demonstrates that perfectly.

[1] For details search uk.rec.cycling (via Usenet or Google Groups)