Author Topic: Tandem owner (Read 30928 times)

amg · « **Reply #25 on:** 28 May, 2008, 07:46:32 pm »

Dawes Discovery Twin here, stoker seat shared between 11 and 13 yo daughters. Predictably known as Daisy (the tandem, not the daughters)

drossall · « **Reply #26 on:** 28 May, 2008, 08:45:20 pm »

Claud Butler Majestic 2, sadly not much ridden lately.

PrettyBoyTim · « **Reply #27 on:** 28 May, 2008, 11:33:05 pm »

Quote from: Tim Hall on 26 May, 2008, 10:25:47 pm

We has a Pino

Oooooh - I'd love to have one of them!

I have a tandem, but there are no pedals for the stoker, his seat is mounted above the rear wheel and it looks like this:

JohnHamilton · « **Reply #28 on:** 29 May, 2008, 06:13:15 pm »

Ibis 'Purple People Eater'. Just returned from a respray and upgrade to front and rear disks.

oldcobblers · « **Reply #29 on:** 29 May, 2008, 07:07:12 pm »

2 tandems in our stable.

More of these things around than we think!

Paul · « **Reply #30 on:** 30 May, 2008, 11:17:03 am »

Quote from: JohnHamilton on 29 May, 2008, 06:13:15 pm

Ibis 'Purple People Eater'. Just returned from a respray and upgrade to front and rear disks.

Another stunner.

Did they have to beef up the stay/fork for the disk calipers?

Frenchie · « **Reply #31 on:** 30 May, 2008, 12:10:11 pm »

Quote from: PrettyBoyTim on 28 May, 2008, 11:33:05 pm

Quote from: Tim Hall on 26 May, 2008, 10:25:47 pm
We has a Pino

Oooooh - I'd love to have one of them!

We have a Limo and they are great!

nuttycyclist · « **Reply #32 on:** 30 May, 2008, 12:56:52 pm »

Quote from: chris on 25 May, 2008, 09:10:09 am

Quote from: Wobbly John on 24 May, 2008, 10:27:46 pm
One in the Wobbly collection.

Vacant stoker saddle.

Bit disappointing to see it's not a 'wobble' tandem

Ours is so thin and flexible it feels like a wobble bike. Especially when it's got panniers on and I'm riding it solo having dropped the stoker off at work

JohnHamilton · « **Reply #33 on:** 30 May, 2008, 01:10:19 pm »

Quote from: Paul on 30 May, 2008, 11:17:03 am

Quote from: JohnHamilton on 29 May, 2008, 06:13:15 pm
Ibis 'Purple People Eater'. Just returned from a respray and upgrade to front and rear disks.

Another stunner.

Did they have to beef up the stay/fork for the disk calipers?

Nothing required for the rear. It had a (non ISO standard) mounting for a Hope disk there before anyway. Unlikely to be a problem unless you've got particularly lightweight tubing but a bracing strut could always be brazed in between seat & chainstay.

Decided to go for a whole new fork rather than just braze on to the existing one. Thicker blades, crown & steerer. You also want lawyers lips or a straight through axle or similar to ensure the wheel stays in place. With the conventional mounting position the braking force acts to pull the wheel out of the dropouts (this could be avoided simply by putting the caliper on the front of the blade rather than the rear but no-one seems to do that).

Haven't ridden it very far yet (only just got it back on the road after spending all last weekend putting it back together) but very impressed with the disks so far. Lots of power and you don't need hands like a gorilla to use it - very responsive. It now brakes like a bicycle rather than an oil tanker.

Expensive job retrofitting though. Our wheels were already disk compatible which helped but if you needed new wheels as well then you'd be looking at £1000.

thing1 · « **Reply #34 on:** 31 May, 2008, 01:04:04 pm »

The thing household holds one Thorn Adventure called Dobbin. He takes us touring, camping, on the occasional audax, and even appeared in Arrivée once.

Zipperhead · « **Reply #35 on:** 31 May, 2008, 01:59:27 pm »

I've got one. But it looks like I'm going to be rebuilding the back wheel this week - it's eaten four spokes in the last 100 miles. Still, it has such large flanges (ooeerr!) and such a simple spoking pattern (one cross) that I think that I can do it without even removing the gears.

Quisling · « **Reply #36 on:** 01 June, 2008, 01:24:01 am »

Add me and MiniQ to the list

with our Landescape tandem.

Q

Wascally Weasel · « **Reply #37 on:** 01 June, 2008, 01:08:24 pm »

You can add Me and Ms Weasel to the list now (courtesy of Phil).

We're the proud owners of a Schwinn Twin of some vintage that should hopefully be fully fettled over the next weeks.

(Me to Ms Weasel earlier this morning)

"Well, the brakes don't really work, I can't seem to change gear, the headset is loose and the back wheel is a bit wobbly. Fancy a ride?"

She did. It was a very short pootle but long enough to realise that the tandem fits us and that we should get along with riding it, especially when the brakes work.

I'm wanting to put drops on it (Ms Weasel approves as she will be able to see over me) and am wondering if I can somehow bodge my spare shimano triple chainset onto it...

Martin109 · « **Reply #38 on:** 01 June, 2008, 01:15:59 pm »

We need a blow-by-blow account of all fettling, with pics!

Wowbagger · « **Reply #39 on:** 01 June, 2008, 02:28:23 pm »

Mrs. Wow and I have a Thorn Raven Discovery. In another ride or three it will have passed the 4000 mile mark.

We have broken the nearside flange of two Rohloff hubs.

Annie has also stoked on three or four occasions.

Butterfly · « **Reply #40 on:** 01 June, 2008, 02:34:56 pm »

Quote from: Wascally Weasel on 01 June, 2008, 01:08:24 pm

You can add Me and Ms Weasel to the list now (courtesy of Phil).

We're the proud owners of a Schwinn Twin of some vintage that should hopefully be fully fettled over the next weeks.

(Me to Ms Weasel earlier this morning)

"Well, the brakes don't really work, I can't seem to change gear, the headset is loose and the back wheel is a bit wobbly. Fancy a ride?"

She did. It was a very short pootle but long enough to realise that the tandem fits us and that we should get along with riding it, especially when the brakes work.

I'm wanting to put drops on it (Ms Weasel approves as she will be able to see over me) and am wondering if I can somehow bodge my spare shimano triple chainset onto it...

Ooh, another Wandsworth tandem.

We'll have to organise a Wandsworth tandem ride.

Wascally Weasel · « **Reply #41 on:** 18 June, 2008, 09:49:27 pm »

Well, you might have to remove Ms Weasel and I from the list of tandem owners for the moment

My very non 1337 fettling skillz having been tested beyond my meagre ability, I passed the tandem on to my LBS to do the necessary.

They got the brakes and gears working and replaced the wheels.

On trying to fix the headset it all went horribly wrong - according to the LBS mechanic, the current headset is the wrong size and previous bodges have caused the headtube to flare, to the extent that the LBS really don't see how they can safely get a working headset on there.

They recommend scrapping it

They are putting the poor beast back together as was and we are going to see where we go from there (they aren't charging me either, despite much labour on their part and having replaced all the cabling (I'm going to get them something as a thank you)).

So the plan now may be to save up for a new or second hand one. Curses.

eck · « **Reply #42 on:** 18 June, 2008, 09:56:56 pm »

It might be worth investigating getting the head tube replaced, if it's a good quality frame. Dave Yates says £90 for a new one: http://www.daveyatescycles.co.uk/
Plus a respray, of course.
Might be an option? $:-\$

Wascally Weasel · « **Reply #43 on:** 18 June, 2008, 10:07:59 pm »

Well, Ms Weasel is out tonight so we haven't had a chance to talk it through - we don't really know enough ourselves to know if the frame is worth the amount of effort that would make it useable. The LBS are telling us it isn't.

The bagpuss/womble part of me wants to make good use of the everyday thing we have found but we could end up spending a fair amount of money and still not have that great a bike at the end of it.

if we don't decide to carry on with the project, we'll be happy to pass on the mortal remains of poor Sandy (did you see the colour scheme?) to any interested party.

Zipperhead · « **Reply #44 on:** 19 June, 2008, 12:21:03 am »

It might be worth talking to Charlotte - I don't know if she has a home in mind for it, but she is currently overstocked with tandems (actually I am as it's in my garage as I borrowed it)

Butterfly · « **Reply #45 on:** 19 June, 2008, 08:23:43 am »

And as I offered Ms Weasel, you are very welcome to borrow (one of) our spare one(s) to see how you get on and what you want from it.

drossall · « **Reply #46 on:** 19 June, 2008, 08:32:07 am »

Right, I'm off to start a "How many tandems do you need?" thread. Answer n+1. Debatable whether n = current number of ~~bikes~~ tandems or current number of girlfriends*, I suppose

Substitute boyfriends as appropriate. I'm married so n=0 and tandems=1

clarion · « **Reply #47 on:** 19 June, 2008, 09:54:30 am »

n=5 in our case

Andydauddwr · « **Reply #48 on:** 19 June, 2008, 10:04:21 am »

Quote from: clarion on 19 June, 2008, 09:54:30 am

n=5 in our case

That is rather committed, anything interesting/unusual?

We're feeling guilty about having two at the moment. The original plan was to keep the old Dawes as a heavy tourer, but the latest idea is to flog it and buy a trailer for when we want to lug camping gear behind the bling tandem...

AC

clarion · « **Reply #49 on:** 19 June, 2008, 10:23:28 am »

Well, Butterfly had two as work tools to fit different sized kids.

One is a Dawes 2Across, the other is an Orbit, er, SomethingorotherprobablyaLibraIIRC.

I have custody of Pagan's KHS, which was our first, bought from JD with a view to getting the wean mobile (and indeed helping him transform into Superstoker). I bought a 531 (what else?!

) Orbit touring tandem when Pagan & I divorced, but timing chain issues meant that I borrowed the KHS anyway. Both are now in store in Yorkshire.

Since then, Butterfly & I have discovered we both really like tandemming, and she says that it's a good way to make sure I don't zoom off without her*, so we bought a Dawes Super Galaxy. :thumbsup

* Disclaimer: I have never knowingly zoomed anywhere

Author Topic: Tandem owner (Read 30928 times)

JohnHamilton

oldcobblers

JohnHamilton