Tandem Cycling - Tandem upgrades

My buddie and i just got a tandem from my buddie's uncle. its like a '75 pinto from italy or france. we got clipless pedals on it but thats basically it. we are thinking of upgrading the shifters, cranksets, etc. its got suntour cyclone deraillers on it right now and they work okay, but its just that hills kill us, and especially since its a 15-speed (triple chainring & 5 spd cassette) it doesnt really give us an advantage. does anyone know of any websites that deal with tandem upgrade parts?

That would probably be a Mel Pinto branded tandem, imported from Urago in the south of France. Best bet on a tandem like this would be to drop a note to either Sheldon Brown at Harris Cyclery in CT (sheldon@captainbike.com) or Larry Black at Mt. Airy Cyclery in MD (abikie@aol.com). They are both collectors who have extensive inventories repleat with some of the more unusual components for older and more unusual tandems like the Mel Pinto "Le Tandem" and "Special".

BTW, don't know if they still support the older products and tandems sold years, ago, but Mel Pinto Imports is still a going concern... http://www.melpintoimports.net/pages/1/index.htm

Mel Pinto Imports, Inc
2860 Annandale Road
Falls Church, Virginia 22042
Phone Number: 703-237-4686
Fax Number: 703-534-9518
melpintoimp@aol.com

kool, thanx a TON! :D

Pintos are a bit of a rarity and never really did take off.
Rode a French Follis in 1975 and had the 15-speed set-up; had no problem climbing hills with it, but then again we were only in our forties then!
Seems the French had several tandems out at that time: Follis, Urago, Motobecane, Gitane, Lejeune, etc.
BTW Suntour Cyclone was the cat's meow in the 70s!
Would not over$pend on upgrading a tandem like that.
Enjoy the ride!

yeah, thats what my dad told me, he has suntour cyclones on his fuji, they still work great