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.
3 comments:
Lash out and go full Brooks. Your bums will thank you.
My good lady uses a Brooks B17 on her solo bike and seems to like it but I'm quite partial to a San Marco Rolls. Then again, I've never tried a Brooks. I'm sure there could be some kind of 'amusing' rhyme made up to do with it (Please fill in the blank): 'Once you've gone Brooks, you'll never go [blank]'.
I'm sure my sweet lady love stoker will let me know if she thinks the Brooks would be preferable.
By the way, I didn't mean that last comment to sound cheeky. When I was reading it over again there it seemed a bit like I was saying 'You don't need to tell me about saddles. I'm sure my other half will let me know without you having to tell me'. Well, that was not the intended meaning. All I meant was that, following your suggestion, my beloved shall be consulted on a regular basis (To the point of annoyance and beyond) about the comfort level of the San Marco saddles we use. Sorry if it didn't come across that way.
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