Tandemitis

We've been some giving thought recently to getting another tandem.

As you may know (if you've read posts such as these) we already have a tandem. It is, however, a flat bar tandem and the space is rather limited for the stoker (ie. person at the back). As such, it gets very uncomfortable for stoking purposes unless you're smaller than about 5'5". It also, despite covering reasonable extremities in its range of gearing, only has a seven speed freewheel. That means there's quite a jump between gears and it can be difficult to find gears which seem natural to pedal in. Cadence goes up and down a bit more than one might like when pedalling on our current tandem.

So, what to do? We don't want to spend the kind of money the likes of a Santana tandem would cost, even though I'd imagine they're great bicycles. A Landescape (which I also imagine to be rather good) would be a bit less but is still more than we'd have to spend on such an item. Therefore, despite our earlier problems, we're considering ordering a Dawes Galaxy Twin.

It had been a couple of years since we were last out on a tandem so we took our old bike out for a short spin last night. I can see definite positives about it but goodness me I was sore afterward and not just in a 'I've done some exercise and my muscles hurt because I've been working them' way. I found I had pain in my left shoulder, left hip, both knees and right hamstring. That's not good. The confusion, for me, is whether that pain is a result of a poor fitting tandem (which it is) or whether it's because of some little nuances which must exist in tandem riding (not being able to stand up so easily and quickly, having to compromise on cadence with the stoker etc.). It makes buying a tandem sight unseen a less attractive prospect. I wouldn't want to spend about £1300 (which I've seen the Dawes for) on a bicycle only to find it doesn't suit our needs.

Living in Nireland, I don't think there are any local tandem stockists where I could try one of the Galaxy Twins out (and possibly buy it). I wonder if the distance selling regulations would enable us to get it, try it out and (in the worst case of our not wanting it) returning it having had to pay only the shipping charges? I should probably get in touch with a stockist and ask them.

To add to my concerns, I was out cycling solo today and was completely drained of any power. Given how brisk last night's tandem outing was, it really shouldn't have stolen so much Oomph! (not that I have a lot of Oomph! at the best of times) from me. That worries me slightly. I don't want to be doing myself any harm with tandem riding.

Maybe I'd be best saving my money?

More tandem thoughts

I know I'm being a complete stuck record here but I've been obsessing over our tandem a bit since we decided to get it. If anything, I'm a little less obsessive than I was when we had just got it and I was sprucing it up a reasonable amount. However, I'm still going to blabber on and bore you, as usual.

This time I thought I would share my initial thoughts with 'tandeming' (Tandemming? Is it even a word?) with you 'lucky' people. As with all my posting, I'm absolutely certain you'll find this positively enthralling reading. Here goes...

Being a highly strung type, I was kind of nervous about going on the tandem for the first time. I was fine when I took it out on my own to make sure everything was working (I thought it better to test the brakes etc. with only one person at risk) but was practically hyperventilating when it came to Kirby Girl joining me.

Despite my earlier claims to be a nervous creature, I was surprised by this response but, thankfully, it passed pretty quickly and we set off on our shaky first tandem ride (As covered three posts below). Getting towards the point of this, I have noticed the main problems in tandem riding seem to be from nerves, rather than any physical inadequacies.

It seems a lot easier for the Captain (Person at the front) to acclimatise oneself to tandem riding than the Stoker (Person at the back, as you would have worked out even if you didn't know). I don't know if I could 'stoke' as I'm so pushy and set in my ways. The Stoker has to put complete trust in his or her Captain and try to remain fairly loose and limber at all times. Initially, for anyone used to riding solo, there's a real tendency for the Stoker to attempt to steer and this causes a surprising amount of nuisance for the Captain. Even though the Stoker's bars are only attached to the Captain's seatpost, the action of tugging at them can almost shunt the tandem round. As you can imagine, that's something which needs to be remedied and only more cycling and confidence can fix it. Thankfully we seem to have reduced that considerably. Initially it was a real annoyance but now it's very rare and doesn't play much of a factor at all, even though we've only 'tandemed' five times together. It's good to see such annoyances disappear so quickly into insignificance. I must credit my very patient and considerate Stoker with doing an excellent job in that regard. So-called Captain or no, I'm sure she has felt like shoving me off the tandem more than once before now.

Just to mention, we've noticed motorists continue to be more considerate when we're on the tandem, as opposed to solo bikes. I really don't think this is something we've simply imagined as it seems to continue. Hopefully it'll stay that way. It also makes for a talking point when we're stopping to ask for directions or generally chatting with strangers somewhere. I guess you don't see too many of them around. I can't think of many I've seen around the roads of this country. Maybe four at most in my memory. Well, five including us.


I briefly mentioned about communication a post down. It really is important for the twat at the front Captain to let the poor bullied Stoker know what's going on. I'm a bit useless that way and let Kirby Girl know there was a bump when we have just passed over it rather than forewarning her of them. That's probably not very good and she most likely realises there had been a bump from the pain in her knickers.

Something nice for our Stoker was when we were down along a road at the shore of the nearby lough (aka 'lake') yesterday. It was full of clouds of flies and they all hit the Captain (Climbing round my eyes despite having cycling glasses on) whilst the Stoker pretty much made it out fly free. See, 'stoking' isn't all bad.

I know I'm going off at a tangent a bit here but I'm writing like I think and apologise for doing so. Before we got our tandem people had told me they were great on the flat and downhills but terrible uphill. I don't know if it's because I'm so bad at climbing normally on a solo bike but I think the tandem isn't really too bad. We're not at the point of standing on the pedals yet (Which means we're both sore by the time we get home and don't rest our 'loins' enough) but the gears are low enough for us to eventually grind our way up any hill we've come across so far (Other than the once when it wouldn't go into the 'granny ring' and some man stepped out in front of us, although we've been up that hill since easily enough without pedestrians) and some, whilst short, have been steep wee buggers. I think the lowest gear is 26 at the front and 34 at the back. That's pretty much as low a gear as I could manage. Anything less than that and I don't know if I could spin quickly enough to keep the bike upright. Kirby Girl has helped immensely on the hills too. There are times when I'm completely knackered and her endurance is enough to save me and push over the top of the hill. Phew! That was kind of the point I got off terribly, that you can take it in turns going uphill. One of you can lay off a little and let the other do most of the pushing then change round and it works well. It's surprising how quickly and naturally one gets into doing such things, without verbally having to announce one is going to. It's kind of the same with coasting and pedalling. Initially I was announcing when we were going to pedal and coast but then we decided to try not doing so and it turned out fine. All along we didn't really need to know. Again, I think it was just another nervous/confidence thing we thought we had to do.

Oh, before I go, if you're looking at the way Sheldon Brown recommends getting on and off a tandem on his website, I'm sure it works great and makes a lot of sense for some people but I found it really difficult. We just put our right feet in the pedals, count down '3-2-1 Go!' and set off and that seems to work simply and effectively for us. I don't know how well it would work if our cranks weren't synchronised but they are and, by fortunate coincidence, we both start pretty much identically on solo bikes anyway. I'm in no way saying there's anything wrong with the Sheldon Brown method (It makes a lot of sense and should suit a lot of people very well) just that it was awkward for us and there are other ways to set off safely on a tandem. By all means, try the method Sheldon Brown suggests first (He's working from some considerable experience and knowledge after all) and I hope it works for you but don't forget there are other options to you if it doesn't feel comfortable or natural.

That should cover my enormous rant for the time being. Sorry for boring you.

Spot the difference

It's not actually a 'spot the difference' competition at all (Although I'll be impressed by your bothering to if you can spot them and comment to let me know. Oh what joy! If you do, I might actually send you something for the effort) but rather the latest photo of our tandem.

Giving away one/two differences, you'll probably notice the new saddles and seatposts on the tandem. They are a step up over the dirty old pieces of crud which were there originally. When removing the original seatposts, it turned out there was only about an inch and a half to two inches of seatpost in the Stoker's seat tube. Thankfully there were no problems whatsoever but it's a bit of a scary discovery and I'm glad to have a shiny (Albeit cheap) 4oomm post in there instead. The Captain's wasn't as bad, due to the longer seat tube, but it's good to have a new post there also (Even though the Stoker's stem scratched it to buggery when I was putting the bars on).

The San Marco Rolls saddles (Also cheap) are considerably more comfortable than the saddles we replaced and that's great given how much time I find I spend sitting down on a tandem. As yet, we're not at a stage where we're comfortable pedalling whilst standing. I'm sure it'll happen in time but we'll build up to it and enjoy doing so. My gusset thanked me for the new saddles and I thanked it back for not hurting me. What a lovely pair we make.

That's our tandem pretty much done, other than the usual replacement of parts and general maintenance. Hopefully we will get to enjoy many miles of pleasure on it over the coming months and years into the future.

We're already making improvements in our tandem cycling (Although I still grump, bitch and moan constantly at my poor stoker) in terms of communication, speed and general enjoyment of cycling on it. Oh, one great thing I noticed on it is drivers seem to give us more space on the tandem than they would on two solo bikes. At first I thought I might have been looking for it and possibly imagining it but we've been out on the tandem a few times now and it seems to be the case. I wonder if they think we're eccentric (That's not in relation to bottom bracket sheathes) fools and take enough pity on us not to run us over? Maybe they think we're (And I use this cliched expression in mockery) 'cycle Nazis' when we're on solo bikes? Whatever the case, I'm glad to (Normally, although there are still inconsiderate twats) get more space and a lower risk of being killed. Hurrah!

Thanks for reading.

Maiden voyage

Although it was time consuming and I had a couple of little setbacks, I managed to work round them and get the tandem reasonably roadworthy. All I've got left to do is get new seatposts (So I can fit them and the San Marco Rolls saddles rather than the fairly horrid saddles currently there) and a little bar mounted friction lever for controlling the Arai drum/drag brake.

We ordered two different sizes of seatposts and both were too small. Therefore, we ended up returning them and it's too much of a pain to keep doing that. We'll get the posts or inside of the tubes measured and try to order the right size this time. That will be good as I dislike both the seatposts on it now and the saddles attached to them. All being well, we'll have it totally refurbished by this time next week. It's all very exciting for me.

Today was our tandem test ride and what a day to pick. The weather was fantastic, probably the best this year. In bib-shorts and a longsleeve jersey I was very warm indeed, bald head uncovered and everything. Despite some nerves, we got a little ten miles of scooting about on our tandem (Although the first four were me alone testing the gears, brakes etc.) and it seemed okay. Sure it wasn't perfect and we've both quite a bit to get accustomed to but we will with time and it'll be great once we're more comfortable on it. Long may our tandem cycling continue.

What a difference three days makes

I'm just off the phone with SJS Cycles and am pleased to say the girl I was speaking to this time was very pleasant. Hoorah! Being the fickle and short memoried beast I am, I can now like them a bit more. Anyway, the reason I was ringing them was to see about getting something to control the tandem's Arai drag brake. The first item I saw was this which, so long as it's the right size, would definitely do the job. However, I'm a tight-fisted miser and didn't want to shell out £40 [GBP] for it when I've already got a spare set of decent downtube shifters. In phoning SJS, I was pointed in the direction of these. Again it all depends on the diameter of my handlebars but I could get them (And a barrel adjuster) and use one of the shifters I've already got. I know it'll probably only be a couple of pounds less than the unit I linked to above but somehow it seems like I'm getting more for my money. I guess it would give me a spare if anything happens to the drag brake lever I would be attaching.

In other progress, I've got my new brakes, brake levers, grips (Which will have to come off and back on again once I get a drag brake lever), shifters, cabling, cable stops and cable housing attached and ready to be adjusted and my wheels are both in for rebuilding with shiny new spokes. Hopefully they be with me sometime around the weekend and I can get adjusting the components/swearing profusely at how mechanically inept I am. I've also got my wheels, tubes, rim tape, saddles and computer ready to go once everything else is in place. I got the seatposts I had ordered but, alas, I had ordered the wrong size so back they went and another order was placed. Hopefully these seatposts will fit or it'll be the same all over again. In the meantime, I guess I could use the crappy seatposts on it but I'm not fond of them at all. Oh, just remembered, I could do with sticking a pannier rack on it too.

Just totalling up the stuff I bought specifically for the tandem (And that doesn't include the £350 [GBP] we paid for it or the saddles, pedals, pannier rack, wheel rebuilding or bits we already had) we've already spent£250.94 [GBP]. That's turning out less cheap than I may have hoped. Still, hopefully it'll be semi-decent and equivalent to a tandem at least twice that combined price.

There you go. I hope you're as suitably excited to read all that as I imagine you would be.

Cursed?

I don't know whether I'll be doing as much cursing as I thought in assembling some of our tandem parts or whether I'm just cursed when it comes to tandems.

When buying our tandem, the guy selling it gave us a pair of what I would call 'cable stops'. I'm not sure if that's the correct name or not but they're the bits which screw on near the top, at each side of the downtube for the gears' (I think. I'll be sure to check before running the cabling through) cable housing to 'finish off' in. I know I should have checked when we were getting them but it turns out he gave me two right-sided 'cable stops' rather than one of each.

I phoned the surly customer 'service' buggers at SJS Cycles this morning and they were able to add these to my existing order but it was an unpleasant experience speaking to them and I'll not be going there again in a hurry unless I've no other options (Which may well be the case with tandem parts). Don't get me wrong. It's not the shop SJS Cycles which is the problem. It appears to be good and stocks some great stuff difficult to find elsewhere but, to say the least, their telephone operators could be a little more civil. They definitely don't entice one to wish to ring them again with their unfriendly surly attitude. It's a shame really as the shop itself, as I mentioned, is good. Maybe I just caught them on an off day.

It seems also that Wiggle doesn't have one of the cheap seatposts we ordered in stock and will have to put in an order for it. That means my poor Stoker, Kirby Girl, is going to have to make do with an old seatpost for a while, unless Wiggle hurries on with getting the other one in. I know that sounds selfish, with me getting the new seatpost, but it makes more sense doing it that way. The Captain's seatpost is going to have the Stoker's bars and a bottle cage mount on it and I can't be assed taking them off and putting them on again.

On further inspection of the tandem, it seems there's a bit of undesirable motion in both bottom brackets. I think it's not enough to worry hugely about at the moment but it's certainly something to prepare for in the future. I've never changed the bottom bracket on a solo bike let alone a tandem. I hope it's easy. By the way, does anyone know if a tandem uses standard chains and what 'speed' of chain should be used for the left side?

Post 100: Tandem riding here we come

Well, there it is, our new tandem (If you left-click on the picture I think it'll show you a bigger version) in our messy garage. It's new to us but it sure as hell ain't new to the world. We just picked it up today and discovered the brakes aren't working (They just need adjusted) and three of the spokes in the rear wheel are broken so it was out with the wheel, over to our local wheelbuilder's (Who is a marvellous man for such things in all ways; speed, pleasantness, quality and price). He's going to completely respoke the rear wheel for us for a mere twelve pounds and hopes to have it done within four days. That's pretty bloomin' great service!

The frame and rims on the tandem seem pretty good and I reckon the wheels will be fine once they're respoked. At the moment, the front wheel seems okay so we'll not get new spokes on it until they start snapping. Hopefully that will be later rather than sooner.

The seatposts were of that variety where the bit the saddle connects to is a separate part held on by friction, rather than the sort I'm used to. I'm probably not describing it very well but I hope you know what I mean. Anyway, I didn't like them so I've ordered two new seatposts for it. Hopefully they'll be just dandy and I'll find I've ordered the right size. I did measure them but only with a steel rule so I'm not likely to be spot on to tenths of a millimetre.

I felt a bit bad slicing off the old bar grips. There was nothing actually wrong with them and they seemed in perfect condition but we have bought new ones and they're better. Four perfectly good grips chucked in the bin (Which was a cardboard box rather than a proper bin).

The tyres on the tandem were only 28mm thick (And the flipping inner tubes said 20/23mm on them!) so I've ordered some 32mm Schwalbe Marathon Pluses (As mentioned in my previous post). I've read some online tandem nerds rate the Marathon Pluses, so I hope we'll find them good too. Isn't it a bugger trying to get tyres off a tandem? I cut my knuckle open attempting to do so. Funnily enough, it wasn't terrible getting the first side of the tyre off the rim but the 'following' side wouldn't come easily. I imagine it'll be a nightmare trying to get the new tyres on when we get them. Hopefully that means they'll stay on well.

Earlier this evening I ordered some V-brakes and a 7 speed 'shifter pod'. I'm sure I'll be doing some swearing trying to get everything working when it all arrives. After much anger and frustration, everything should eventually come together and we'll have a reasonably pleasant tandem to ride.

So I don't forget, here's a list of the stuff we're changing:

• San Marco Rolls saddles instead of the saddles already there (Euch! Sweaty arses!)
• Respoke wheel(s)
• SRAM brake levers
  
• New seatposts (I can't be sure of the manufacturer but I think it was Push. They were cheap anyway)
• Avid V-brakes
• Replace gear and brake cabling and cable housing
  
• New bottle cages (Highly important obviously. Strangely, there's only a single cage on it) and funny wee bottle cage holder which fits onto a seatpost
  
• Shimano STX shifters
• Ergon bar grips
• TorTec pannier rack
• New pedals (Can't remember what makes)
• Sigma Sport BC1600 computer (Hopefully I'll be able to get the cadence to work with it)

I think that's it. That probably pushes it to about my limit when it comes to bicycle maintenance and that sort of gubbins. The only other thing I had thought of was getting some sort of cable disc brake for it but I need to know what would be suitable for the rear hub currently on the bike. Hopefully I'll find the drum brake currently on it is better than I imagine it might be.

All being well, we should have the tandem ready to use by this time next week. Wish me luck!