Update on my Torus.
The bike is no more. Was gutted to find cracks in the seat tube/stay weld that carried on in to the seat tube, so I stopped riding it back in 2012. I made enquiries in to getting it repaired, but it would have meant replacing the whole seat tube, so not worth it. On close inspection, my theory is that the short aluminium sleeve inside the seat tube may have caused excess leverage on the part of the frame from the seat post. That said, I did use and abuse the bike for 17 years...
It's not the end of the Torus story though. A while back, the publishers of the book '1001 Bikes to dream of riding' got in touch, asking for a photo of my Torus. I was happy to oblige, and it looks like it made in to the book! The write up mentions the Trimnell forks, whereas mine had AMP F3 on it, but it's still awesome to think my old bike has been immortalised like that.
Aaaand, as if that wasn't a good enough result by itself; I'm moving away, and wasn't able to take my beloved frame with me, so I contacted Rockets and Rascals Bicycle Emporium in Plymouth, about donating it to them for display. They love their retro bikes, and even have a John Tomac Yeti hung on their wall.
They were happy to take the frame (gave them my Syncros stem too), so if you're passing that way in the future, pop in and look out for my old Torus FS!