I need a tandem

[ABlipInContinuity]

I'm going to ride the tandem back from Bradford to the South of Manchester tomorrow.
Sadly Maffie's still a bit ill to join me as she's just getting over a chest infection and I think it would wipe her out for the rest of the week.

Looks like there are some hills involved.

Wish me luck.

[clarion]

Hope all goes well! 

Are there no forummers who can do a relay stoke for you?

[Karen Sutton]

The best of luck Dan.

[ABlipInContinuity]

Yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yay!!!!
YAY!!!

The tandem is here! And it's in brilliant condition. A real bargain I feel!

Maffie came in the end. We left Birkenshaw near Bradford having collected the Tandem at gone eleven in the Morning. It took us a couple of hours to get to Halifax  .  We did use the time well though,  conquering Maffie's fear of the speed accrued going down hill, adjusting things for comfort and tweaking gears for better shifting. We wobbled. A lot to begin with but quickly improved. Some improvement yet to be made too I feel. We also made a few false starts and discovered the difficulty of a hill start!!!

Once in Halifax, I dropped Maffie at the train station as her chest infection was starting to rear itself again and set off on my tod Towards Manchester on the A58, A672 and then A62.

Hmmm, past Rippondon things started getting very hilly. In fact, until I reached Saddleworth, just past the M62, it was just up, up and up. Relentlessly so. I certainly felt I was dragging that bike along, with it's loaded rack! (Maffie had thoughfully bought me an extra 2 litres of water to take with me... the sentement was appreciated but the bottle is still unopened!).

Never the less, Oldham came and the hills did relent. Weeeeeeeeeeeee all the way into Manchester. At least until I got as far as the A62. Or should that be A62(M) as bicycles, horses and pedestrians are explicitly banned from using this. Only, there is no advanced warning and the sign depicting the prohibitions is several yards along the road, so I ended up walking with the tandem against the flow of traffic towards a busy roundabout which had a blind corner to the right in the direction I was walking in. With barriers either side of the carriageway, there was nothing else I could do.

I picked Maffie up from Victoria station in the City Centre and we headed home along the Oxford Road, Europe's busiest bus corridor.

I think we handled ourselves quite well in the city traffic. And due to a fair in one of the parks, it was quite busy.

I'm now totally exhausted, but it was lovely to see the scenary along Saddleworth Moor, riding under a warm autumn sun.

Tandem pictures to follow when I've had time to take some.

[clarion]

A58 solo?  Eek!  Did you not think the A646 might have been a better (and flatter) option?

Well done, though.  Glad Maffie's coping with stoking duties, but sorry to hear she's still badly, so wish her GWS from us.

[Maffie]

Im definately loving the tandem. Although my chest would not agree at this time hence the silly o'clock posting.
I hate hills going down so was a real eye opener to put the control over to Dan but after the first few I had to get used to them.
I can see the bike getting alot of use and cant help smiling when I see it in the hall.

[clarion]

It's hard to be a stoker - there's so much trust involved.  And respect to both of my regular stokers (and less, more grudging, respect to Our Kid, who did it once ). 

With me, it's not so much the lack of control that bothers me, but the self-consciousness that the pilot has to balance me like a (big) sack of potatoes.  Knowing how hard it can be to sit at a red traffic light with just a small stoker, I'm not sure I'd ask anyone to prop up a tandem carrying me.

Re: Hills, the going down thereof.  It's much safer if the stoker has built up her (usually her) faith in the pilot.  The last thing that's needed is doubt.  And faster can be safer (up to a point, Lord Copper ).

Smiling at the sight of your tandem is a normal symptom of tandem addiction.  get used to it

[ABlipInContinuity]

Thanks for the encouragement Clarion.

And thanks also to Maffie for coping whilst I've developped my pilotting skills. It does feel like an awful lot of responsibility pilotting a tandem!

[rdaviesb]

Some teaser photos. Still tinkering with the new tandem, and we've a new set of straight forks on order. When they are in I'll cut the steerer down properly.

[clarion]

Nice.  Not my bag, but we saw a Santos at JD Cycles, and were offered a test ride to check out the Rohloff, which I am interested in, but we were advised against for our needs.

Well put together machine, and clearly well-specced.  I hope it gives you many miles of great pleasure.

[rdaviesb]

The Rohloff was a big decision, but really easy for me once we'd tried it. We rode the same frames back to back at JD's and I just couldn't hack fiddling about with the front and back shifters across the rolling Yorkshire Dales. We've lost a little off the top end, but we are spinners rather than pedal mashers anyway, so it's not going to make too much difference. I'm really impressed with the stability of the Santos frame - it's the first tandem I've been able to do a 180 degree turn on without feeling as though I'm going to dump the stoker onto the road. 

As winter is coming on I'd also better drop the SON dynohub into the front, and fix up the Solidlights.

[Maffie]

Well I have to say bottom fondling and thigh stroking is great as a stoker 

[ABlipInContinuity]

It was good to see Santos Tandems in the flesh at Cycle 08.

We did the first 180º turn on the Dawes Discovery Twin today so our confidence is growing! I'm pleased to say that it seemed very stable.

Also experienced our first whiff of a side wind too! I can imagine stronger winds are fun!

[Karen Sutton]

It was good to see Santos Tandems in the flesh at Cycle 08.

We did the first 180º turn on the Dawes Discovery Twin today so our confidence is growing! I'm pleased to say that it seemed very stable.

Also experienced our first whiff of a side wind too! I can imagine stronger winds are fun!

I'm confused.  Are Santos and Dawes the same company?  Only your pictures of the tandem in this thread show a Santos.

[rdaviesb]

I'm confused.  Are Santos and Dawes the same company?  Only your pictures of the tandem in this thread show a Santos.

No - Santos and Dawes not related, and the pictures are mine! We were also at Cycleshow, and on seeing the new Giles Berthoud leather saddles (and been given a guided tour by the man himself), have ordered two. Verrrrryyyy predddy The can be seen on the second page of  this pdf http://www.wallbike.com/berthoud/selle/docselle-12.pdf

Even though it's heresy to say so, they make the construction of my existing Brooks saddles look very tatty indeed.

[Polar Bear]

Indeed.  we're still awaiting lovely pictures of the Dawes ...   

[Karen Sutton]

I'm confused.  Are Santos and Dawes the same company?  Only your pictures of the tandem in this thread show a Santos.

No - Santos and Dawes not related, and the pictures are mine!

Oops, Sorry

Having done 30 miles on the Twosday today, including some hills, we think we may need a tandem with full size wheels to add to the stable.  The 20" wheels accelerate away from a standstill but it feels like we're pedalling like mad, even in higher gears, and going reeeeeeeeeaaaaally slow.  It's OK when we are on our own, but with the club it feels like hard work.

I note that the Discovery twin has 26" wheels.  How does it handle Dan?

[RW]

Many smiles and much celebration in our household tonight

Dawes Discovery Twin

It's just like ours  



Here it is having a rest outside a bar in France.

[RW]

Hello everyone,
sorry for the stunningly ineffectual first post
It was meant to show our blue dawes discovery twin leaning against some blue railings.

Anyway, hello.  I've been lurking here for a while.  We've had our tandem for about four years - this summer we took it to South West France from St Malo.  It was our first long trip and the bug's bitten.

[Polar Bear]

No worries.  I'm even more useless at posting pictures so I just don't try!   

[Chris N]

It's just like ours 



Here it is having a rest outside a bar in France.

Like this:

Code: [Select]

[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3273/2797646458_e3bae9f319.jpg[/img]Right click on the image in flickr and copy the image's URL, not that of the flickr page.

[ABlipInContinuity]

I'm confused.  Are Santos and Dawes the same company?  Only your pictures of the tandem in this thread show a Santos.

No - Santos and Dawes not related, and the pictures are mine!

Oops, Sorry

Having done 30 miles on the Twosday today, including some hills, we think we may need a tandem with full size wheels to add to the stable.  The 20" wheels accelerate away from a standstill but it feels like we're pedalling like mad, even in higher gears, and going reeeeeeeeeaaaaally slow.  It's OK when we are on our own, but with the club it feels like hard work.

I note that the Discovery twin has 26" wheels.  How does it handle Dan?

Handling is fine. It's really stable. It piles on and keeps momentum quite well, even though it is shod with Schwalbe Marathon Cross tyres which I'm still running a bit squidgy.

When I can afford to, I would like to switch it onto normal Marathons and then see how it goes.

Seating is very upright, with the current setup. I can see us fiddling around with bars and stems soon for something more akin to what we are used to on our solo bikes.

And most importantly, the colour is wonderful!

[fruitcake]

Having done 30 miles on the Twosday today, including some hills, we think we may need a tandem with full size wheels to add to the stable.  The 20" wheels accelerate away from a standstill but it feels like we're pedalling like mad, even in higher gears, and going reeeeeeeeeaaaaally slow.  It's OK when we are on our own, but with the club it feels like hard work.

Karen,
You and Liz will now fit the tandem I have.

[Karen Sutton]

Having done 30 miles on the Twosday today, including some hills, we think we may need a tandem with full size wheels to add to the stable.  The 20" wheels accelerate away from a standstill but it feels like we're pedalling like mad, even in higher gears, and going reeeeeeeeeaaaaally slow.  It's OK when we are on our own, but with the club it feels like hard work.

Karen,
You and Liz will now fit the tandem I have.

Is your tandem not an MTB one Alex?

[fruitcake]

Karen,
It is an MTB.
It has twist grip shifters and slick tyres at present.  7 speed by three chainrings.