Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Freewheeling => Tandems => Topic started by: sg37409 on 19 January, 2020, 07:14:01 pm
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Excited to be off tandem shopping next weekend. Booked in for sizings and test rides ad JD and the Tandem shop. :thumbsup:
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Excited to be off tandem shopping next weekend. Booked in for sizings and test rides ad JD and the Tandem shop. :thumbsup:
I thought you already had one or two?
I've always fancied a shot on one but with my hearing problems communication would be a big problem.
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Excited to be off tandem shopping next weekend. Booked in for sizings and test rides ad JD and the Tandem shop. :thumbsup:
I thought you already had one or two?
I've always fancied a shot on one but with my hearing problems communication would be a big problem.
There are plenty of ways to develop tandem teamwork that don't involve audible communication. It might take a little practice is all.
We (fboab and me) don't generally need to talk about the running of the bike so much; beyond me shouting "Hole!" or requests like "Stand?" or "Coast" - so you could easily develop some hand/touch signals for those instances - I don't think hearing issues need be an obstacle for tandem riding.
Sorry to hijack your thread, sg!
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Excited to be off tandem shopping next weekend. Booked in for sizings and test rides ad JD and the Tandem shop. :thumbsup:
I thought you already had one or two?
I've always fancied a shot on one but with my hearing problems communication would be a big problem.
One. It was sized to be a compromise for my wife and when the kids were small. But its evident now that it was too much of a compromise.
Its very cramped in terms of reach at the back, and not much we can do there.
You don't want to buy a nice thorn raven twin do you ? :)
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I have a Thorn Raven Large-Large going begging - SWMBO no longer wants to ride it....
800km on the clock and in good condition - Tons of room on back and front. We are 6'3" and 6'0" tall respectively.
I love it but it is a little big to cycle it alone... ;D
Its even got S&S couplers to make it fit.....
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Excited to be off tandem shopping next weekend. Booked in for sizings and test rides ad JD and the Tandem shop. :thumbsup:
I thought you already had one or two?
I've always fancied a shot on one but with my hearing problems communication would be a big problem.
One. It was sized to be a compromise for my wife and when the kids were small. But its evident now that it was too much of a compromise.
Its very cramped in terms of reach at the back, and not much we can do there.
You don't want to buy a nice thorn raven twin do you ? :)
Can you Zwift on it? :P
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;D :thumbsup:
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We (fboab and me) don't generally need to talk about the running of the bike so much; beyond me shouting "Hole!" or requests like "Stand?" or "Coast" - so you could easily develop some hand/touch signals for those instances - I don't think hearing issues need be an obstacle for tandem riding.
Not on a tandem[1], but when we cycle, we tend to have simplex audio from me to barakta (direct radio link to her hearing aid, but I can't hear her from behind over wind/car noise), and she responds via hand signals and head movements. That generally works for the sort of communication we need on a bike: "Left up ahead.", "Trim your front mech!", "Watch out for that massive hole!", "Car down wants to turn right.", "Everything okay?", "Slow down a bit", "See you at the top of the hill.", "Oh, FFS, stop antagonising the geese!" etc.
If it gets much more complicated than yes/no answers, we tend to pull over for a chat.
[1] Common sense prevailed when that ICE tandem came up.
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Excited to be off tandem shopping next weekend. Booked in for sizings and test rides ad JD and the Tandem shop. :thumbsup:
I thought you already had one or two?
I've always fancied a shot on one but with my hearing problems communication would be a big problem.
One. It was sized to be a compromise for my wife and when the kids were small. But its evident now that it was too much of a compromise.
Its very cramped in terms of reach at the back, and not much we can do there.
You don't want to buy a nice thorn raven twin do you ? :)
Can you Zwift on it? :P
If it has appropriately sized rear wheel of course you can.
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After a great day at JD Tandems we ordered an Orbit Sapphire after we were really impressed by it on the test run. 2 couplers for ease of transport, but pretty much standard spec apart from that. 3 - 4 month lead time though.
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Just heard that its delayed indefinitely due to the framebuilder closing. However we took them up on their offer of putting our bits on a 2nd hand frame to give us the summer, and then swapping to our frame when its available. :thumbsup:
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Just heard that its delayed indefinitely due to the framebuilder closing. However we took them up on their offer of putting our bits on a 2nd hand frame to give us the summer, and then swapping to our frame when its available. :thumbsup:
John and Ruth are, as always, incredibly good at solving all sorts of problems!
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So sorry to hear that. In a way it wasn't unexpected though. Any idea when you can collect your temporary solution?
We were lucky that we squeezed in our visit at the last moment before the shutters came down on travel.
I hope you mean that Bob Jackson's is closing for the lockdown and not permanently.
Russell
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So sorry to hear that. In a way it wasn't unexpected though. Any idea when you can collect your temporary solution?
We were lucky that we squeezed in our visit at the last moment before the shutters came down on travel.
I hope you mean that Bob Jackson's is closing for the lockdown and not permanently.
Russell
Temporary I think:
We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause our customers and hope to be back up and running as soon as is possible. We will remove this notice once we can open for business again. Sorry & Please Stay Safe
(from Bob Jackson's website)
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Yes, I could have been clearer: Bob Jackson closing for the lockdown, not permanently. We can't go to collect the temp bike, it will be couriered. Hopefully when the restrictions lift and BJ is up an running again we will be able to go down and pick up the new bike in person. The doesn't seem atypical for JD, to work to provide a solution for customers from everything I've read. They seem great people to deal with.
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Heard yesterday Bob Jackson is back at work and our frame could be ready by the end of the month :thumbsup:
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Heard yesterday Bob Jackson is back at work and our frame could be ready by the end of the month :thumbsup:
Woohoo!
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Heard yesterday Bob Jackson is back at work and our frame could be ready by the end of the month :thumbsup:
Good news! You will soon be joining the club of Summit owners. Did you go for Orbit branding?
How is the temporary frame working out?
R
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Having the temp / loaner frame has been brilliant during this spell of great weather. We are really grateful to JD for providing this. We've been out twice a week since we got it.
I dont know about orbit branding tbh. I didnt know it was an option. Its an orbit sapphire frame, I expect it'll come with orbit decals. On the fancy metallic purple frame. With couplers. ;D :thumbsup:
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We were offered either what Ruth called 'modern' Orbit branding or 'more traditional looking' Bob Jackson branding. We went Orbit in flam red with couplers. Eyeing up red cars when we are out to see what paint most closely matches, we think Mazda is a close match.
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It will be good to hear how the Sapphire compares to your Thorn tandem once you have it.
We've actually just this morning booked a few days on a campsite near Skipton for next month so a ride over to JD will definitely have to happen if they are operating normally be then.
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Just had it confirmed that our frame is in the shop and we're going to go get it next weekend. Can't wait to get it. We'll also find out if its modern or traditional branding. I'd opt for traditional though.
It will be good to hear how the Sapphire compares to your Thorn tandem once you have it.
The main difference will be to the length of it: The stoker reach was short on our thorn raven twin, which we got as an interim solution for when our boys were small. I'll report on how it feels once we've got it. :thumbsup:
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Woo, that's exciting!
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Got home last night and had some stuff on today so just squeezed in a wee run to the end of the glen and back first thing. It rides beautifully - it certainly feels a bit more spritely than the Lightning frame we were riding. We have some time off now so planning to get away for a few day trips.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50105304138_15eb6ea531_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jkCMh7)LRG_DSC00941 (https://flic.kr/p/2jkCMh7) by sg310 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/24775321@N02/), on Flickr
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50105872246_f8db1f88b1_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jkFGa5)LRG_DSC00947 (https://flic.kr/p/2jkFGa5) by sg310 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/24775321@N02/), on Flickr
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Beautiful - congrats! I wish I could get MrsT onto one, but she never had a bike as a kid and flinches at traffic.
Hope you've got some good locks. Chums of mine just used cables and had a 6000€ job nicked in Strasbourg a couple of years back.
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Looks terrific :thumbsup:
We're camping near Skipton next week so a ride over to JD will defiantly be on the cards.
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That looks fantastic!
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...and flinches at traffic.
Tandems are an excellent thing for people who do not cycle for this reason!
A
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I had the chance to take a gander at a Sapphire in JD earlier this week, not at all envious, honest ;)
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We went for the Sapphire in Candy Apple Green 4xss. Picked it up February and we are loving it. Will try and post a pic.
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Apologies for the late arrival at the admiration party sg. Looks very nice and I hope you get as much pleasure from it as we do from ours.
Interesting that you feel that it is more sprightly than a Lightning.
Russell
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I'm even later but still admiring! Hope you have a great time riding it. It looks a lot lighter than our big heavy orange beast!
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Lovely colour that and looks like it has couplers for transport.
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Lovely tandem - we ordered the same model at the start of July!
We’ve had a holiday from tandems for several years, but after riding the Sapphire pro, buying was an easy decision for us.
I’m trying to resist calling Ruth each week for a delivery date update.....
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We are loving it. The weather has been mostly great here this summer, and the couplers have made it much easier to get away to new roads.
We have another wee away day planned tomorrow.
The colour seems to glow on overcast days.
(https://clicktime.symantec.com/3PnQPa2EUsMvf91LfopeokJ6H2?u=https%3A%2F%2Flive.staticflickr.com%2F65535%2F50226025876_4ed1b3956c_z.jpg) (https://clicktime.symantec.com/3BbCEH3rkicsVvkQXajBeJf6H2?u=https%3A%2F%2Fflic.kr%2Fp%2F2jwivDo)IMG_2309 (https://clicktime.symantec.com/3BbCEH3rkicsVvkQXajBeJf6H2?u=https%3A%2F%2Fflic.kr%2Fp%2F2jwivDo)
by sg310 (https://clicktime.symantec.com/33D2ChUf8J3Gc2pCrsSHuDd6H2?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2F24775321%40N02%2F), on Flickr
My wife is not an experienced cyclist, and after she'd been saying she was getting sore on it, I adjusted her saddle to be a touch nose down. That seems to have made quite a difference :thumbsup: I find it very comfortable, although my shoulders enjoy a break after a while.
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...and the couplers have made it much easier to get away to new roads.
Just a bit curious about the reason why you do appreciate the couplers so much. You have a smallish car? You take the train?
A
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Butting in on the thread, we have pretty much the same frame and we asked for couplers to make transporting it easier. To date, given the current circumsatance, we have uncoupled it once and that was to bring it home. At the moment maybe it was a waste of £700 - time will tell. I have thought that if we were to suffer an unfixable mechanical at the roadside, an uncoupled tandem would probably fit in one of those MPV style taxis that are common these days giving us a rescue option. That does however depend on having the spanner with us!
We did also buy their Tandem Swing roof rack carrier to give us an alternative transport method.
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regarding couplers, we've had a Thorn tandem with couplers, and there is no way that I want another tandem without them, so it was a must have for our new Sapphire Pro, in fact it dictated that we bought a steel bike.
We used the couplers a lot to transport the tandem long distances inside a VW Golf estate car, also could bag it up (Ground Effect bags) and take it on Eurostar.
Yes, the couplers are expensive, but if you have an estate car, then you don't need a roof rack and the consequent poor fuel economy.
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hi, I know some people can manage to transport their tandems without couplers, but for us they are a huge benefit.
The alternatives for us would be:
Roof rack: We find it hard to lift the bike off and on to the car (Mondeo), and I don't leave the roof rack on the car. (arguably I could now that the car is doing much less miles) - So the roof option gives us a lot of hassle.
Inside the car: It would need a fair bit of dismantling and faffing about with seats. We've managed it in the past but manhandling a long and heavy weight into position after partial disembly was also a lot of hassle for us.
Public transport: We've never tried this: Tandems on trains seem to be a major blocker and I can't see ourselves even wanting to fly with it.