Are cheap tandems worth it?
Nigel Atkinson
Peak District. She's become remarkably keen on the idea; it was easier to
pedal than she expected, and no need to worry about road position, gears
etc.
A quick market survey shows mountain bike types like the one we tried cost
around £700. Are these a good bet for gentle rides on the semi-flat, or is
it going to die an early death on the first bumpy climb? I'm sceptical about
the wheels, and the frame was did spring a little! Is a Galaxy Twin (and
similar) worth the extra?
I have had a look at the Swallows and SJS websites.
Nigel
John Munday
rough stuff, just forest roads and the odd, reasonably smooth, dirt track.
We have ridden French tow paths on it. The bike is up to the job and if you
can't find a second hand one you will have no problem with a cheaper Dawes
machine.
Nigel Atkinson wrote in message <7hpsl8$9r5$1...@uranium.btinternet.com>...
>In my latest bid to introduce my wife to cycling, we rented a tandem in the
>Peak District. She's become remarkably keen on the idea; it was easier to
>pedal than she expected, and no need to worry about road position, gears
>etc.
>
>A quick market survey shows mountain bike types like the one we tried cost
>around Ł700. Are these a good bet for gentle rides on the semi-flat, or is
Tony Raven
stoker top tubes than modern tandems. The result is the stoker is much more
cramped and up against the captains back. This may put off a stoker trying
it for the first time and the more spacious sit up and look around space on
the newer tandems may be better.
Tony Raven
TMC ltd <t...@cix.co.uk> wrote in message
news:memo.19990518...@tmc.compulink.co.uk...
> I would advocate buying an old Tandem - done up (we have many Tandems like
> this) this will cost you In the order of £250-£300 and will outlast you -
> theyve all ready lasted 60+ years ! if the both of you get really
> enthusiastic then you can then sell it on for very similar money and buy a
> modern luxury item...
>
> A lot of pre-war Tandems are better value than a cheap modern one because
> they really new how to build tandems in those days and they are made out
> of better tubing and dont flex.... they can be upgraded with modern
> components and refinished into a really lovely machine.....
>
> Mike :7)
Dr. R.D.C. Saunders
"Nigel Atkinson" <Nigel_Atkin...@btinternet.com> writes:
> In my latest bid to introduce my wife to cycling, we rented a tandem in the
> Peak District. She's become remarkably keen on the idea; it was easier to
> pedal than she expected, and no need to worry about road position, gears
> etc.
>
> A quick market survey shows mountain bike types like the one we tried cost
> it going to die an early death on the first bumpy climb? I'm sceptical about
> the wheels, and the frame was did spring a little! Is a Galaxy Twin (and
> similar) worth the extra?
>
> I have had a look at the Swallows and SJS websites.
>
Nigel,
I recommend you check out the classifieds in some of the cycling mags,
particularly the CTC mag. There are usually secondhand tandems for sale there.
We bought our first tandem (Dawes Super Galaxy) from an ad in Cycling Weakly.
Best decision we made! There is a thriving market in secondhand tandems -
maybe people can't get on with them (or their partner!).
Robert
TMC ltd
james ashfield
Nigel Atkinson <Nigel_Atkin...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:7hpsl8$9r5$1...@uranium.btinternet.com...
> In my latest bid to introduce my wife to cycling, we rented a tandem in
the
> Peak District. She's become remarkably keen on the idea; it was easier to
> pedal than she expected, and no need to worry about road position, gears
> etc.
>
> A quick market survey shows mountain bike types like the one we tried cost
> around £700. Are these a good bet for gentle rides on the semi-flat, or is
> it going to die an early death on the first bumpy climb? I'm sceptical
about
> the wheels, and the frame was did spring a little! Is a Galaxy Twin (and
> similar) worth the extra?
>
> I have had a look at the Swallows and SJS websites.
>
> Nigel
For 700 quid you could buy 2 mountain bikes :o)
>or is
> it going to die an early death on the first bumpy climb?
Off roading on a tandem? sounds ....er ......interesting.
Myra Van Inwegen
>Nigel Atkinson <Nigel_Atkin...@btinternet.com> wrote
>> A quick market survey shows mountain bike [tandems] like the one we
>> tried cost around £700. Are these a good bet for gentle rides on
>> the semi-flat, or is it going to die an early death on the first
>> bumpy climb?
>
>For 700 quid you could buy 2 mountain bikes :o)
And then weld them together to make a tandem. See Sheldon "I Can Build
One Of Those!" Brown's DIY bike-4-2 info
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tandem_build.html
--
-Myra VanInwegen
Myra.Va...@cl.cam.ac.uk http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/mvi20/bike/
GoFar MTB mag (issue 2 now available) http://www.gofar.demon.co.uk/
Iain Senior
>
> Off roading on a tandem? sounds ....er ......interesting.
Probably an acquired taste, but it's an amazing amount of fun.
You do tend to break parts occasionally, though, like our damping
cartridge :( (On part of Southern Upland Way last Saturday)
Iain.
TMC ltd
stoker top tubes range from 21-23 inches which is ok with a long saddle
pin - the early tandems can take quite a long pin - because the tubes are
generally heavy duty reynolds or Ackles and Pollock tandem tubing and the
seat clamps are veerrrry heavy duty - taking a 5/16" clamp pin diameter!
We actually use our Sun Club (1936) in preference to anything else - and
some german friends came over this weekend and were using a 1927 Chater
lea of ours and are now buying a 1935 BSA from us.... Ive found British
hub company/trivelox and Sturmey hubs more durable than Suzue - and we
tend to use hybrid gearing (Im a great fan of this - a mix of SA and
derraileur)
Mike (load of old scrap metal from 1877 Coventry machinist to 1999 Wavey
Recumbent!)
Tim Hall
>
>Mike (load of old scrap metal from 1877 Coventry machinist to 1999 Wavey
>Recumbent!)
Mike, did you ever restore the Motebecane you bought off my next door
neighbour in Crawley? Or was the frame _too_ damaged?
Tim
ian....@colch-inst.ac.uk
The first was a 1970s Santana and cost £250:
15 speed, caliper brakes, 27" steel wheels and great fun
but not very easy to stop especially in the rain
The second came from the CarreFore hypermarket
in Calais and cost 2500FF:
chromoly frame, 26" alloy wheels
18 speed shimano low end,
V brakes, gripshift, lights, mudguards, bell, mattress saddles
Stronglight alloy triple chainset with replaceable rings
We upgraded the freewheel to a wider range and have used
the bike regularly for over 18months
It's brilliant. Not light or super fast
but headset, BBs and wheels have all
lasted many hundreds of miles.
It's a budget choice for sure but
the V brakes are so effective
that riding it is a pleasure especially down hills
In the last few weeks the weekly paper,
Diamond Yellow Free Ads,
published in East Anglia,
has contained a great number of tandems
with prices ranging from £60 to £600
the monthly mag Cycling Plus also has
tandems advertised privately
but generally at somewhat higher prices
Ian
--== Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ ==--
---Share what you know. Learn what you don't.---
howard...@blacksci.co.uk
james ashfield <j.r.as...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
> For 700 quid you could buy 2 mountain bikes :o)
...and half the fun, ho ho. We've got an MTB Tandem - a Univega that we
picked up for GBP400 from a bike shop that had it hanging around for 2 years
and just wanted to get rid of it. It's done excellent service, and we're are
slowly upgrading it for more road-orientated use. MTB tandems are great
because: 1. Their upright handlebars help novices with steering control 2.
The brakes and gears are often closer to hand than with drops 3. 26" wheels
are almost indestructible 4. The frames are built much stiffer, and therefore
more confidence inspiring (I've found 531 tandems to be a bit "whippy" in
comparison). 5. MTB tandems seem to have quite a bit of stoker room.
Howard
Tony Raven
<howard...@blacksci.co.uk> wrote in message
news:7i0uaq$pm0$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
> In article <7hs2hg$4fp$1...@sirius.dur.ac.uk>,
> james ashfield <j.r.as...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> > For 700 quid you could buy 2 mountain bikes :o)
>
> ...and half the fun, ho ho. We've got an MTB Tandem - a Univega that we
> picked up for GBP400 from a bike shop that had it hanging around for 2
years
> and just wanted to get rid of it. It's done excellent service, and we're
are
> slowly upgrading it for more road-orientated use. MTB tandems are great
> because: 1. Their upright handlebars help novices with steering control 2.
> The brakes and gears are often closer to hand than with drops 3. 26"
wheels
> are almost indestructible 4. The frames are built much stiffer, and
therefore
> more confidence inspiring (I've found 531 tandems to be a bit "whippy" in
> comparison). 5. MTB tandems seem to have quite a bit of stoker room.
>
6. Its virtually impossible to go over the handlebars or off the back
whatever you do
On the other hand it is impossible to lift the front wheel over anything and
it requires a lot of co-operation and good timing to bunnyhop it even an
inch or two!
Tony Raven