Tandem Cycling - Finally, we found our tandem

After search craigslist, ebay and tandem classifieds since March, we finally found our tandem. It is an older Ibis that was right here in Portland, Oregon. The previous owner converted it from a mountain to a roadie. Now I am going to covert it back. Strange, it has two rear brake mounts. One has been removed. I would like to control both rear brakes with one lever.....? This is my first challenge.

You'll need one of these:

http://www.gaerlan.com/bikeparts/parts/brakes/brktand.gif

NOW AVAILABLE FOR Tandem ! DIACOMPE Tandem Road Brake Levers 287T- Right lever has 2 brake hole anchor to control one regular brake cable and drum brake cable.

BRKLVRTANDEM ---$49.95 (pair)

http://www.gaerlan.com/bikeparts/parts/brakes/brakes.html

or this:

http://www.gaerlan.com/bikeparts/parts/brakes/brk2p.gif

PYRAMID Dual Pull Brake Lever - One sided brake lever with 2 cable mounts. Use for special applications where one brake lever is required to pull 2 brake cables.
BRKLEV2PULL---$24.95 (pair)

Looks a nice bike. Does it have any of the Ibis nice features like smooth fillet brazing, hand job cable hanger etc?

Usual solution on the brakes is to use a thumbshift to control the drag brake. IMO the double headed brake lever seems to be an invitation for one of the brakes not to work when you need it, and at best lots of faffing to keep it adjusted.

Agree with mrfish on braking setup. One lever with 2 cables (doublepull) is a pain to adjust both brakes it activates, and never seems to work right for long. It would be a real 'faux pas' (pun intended) to use such a setup! Been there, done that!
Have ridden Ibis tandems . . . nice!
Pedal on TWOgether!
RUdy and Kay/zonatandem

Strange, it has two rear brake mounts. One has been removed. I would like to control both rear brakes with one lever.....? This is my first challenge.

It looks like you've got a very early Cousin IT which was probably originally fitted with a WTB Speedmaster roller brake or a Shimano U-brake and with an optional set of U-brake type brake bosses... which really seems odd. I would have expected the second set of brake bosses to be cantilever type rather than just giving the original owner the choice of mounting their Speedmaster / U-brake on the seat stays or under the chain stays. I don't believe they were truly intended to be used together; rather, they simply gave the owner the ability to change their mind and move the brakes from the somewhat new at the time brake placement below the chain stays back to the seat stays.

Regardless, you also have a braze-on fitting for an Arai drum drag brake on your tandem -- it's that elongated donut thing brazed on below the left chain stay -- which is complimented by what should be a rear hub with left side threading as well as a cable stop on the captain's seat tube and a small roller mounted just behind the captain's bottom bracket / eccentric that supported a thumb shifter used to control the Arai drum brake.

Frankly, I can't imagine wanting to have a pair of rim brakes -- and in particular a pair of U-brakes since that's what your brake bosses both appear to be -- for rear wheel brake control. Instead, if you're looking for something beyond just the marginal U-brake that appears to be mounted below your chain stays, I'd suggest that you find a used Arai drum and hook it up instead.

After search craigslist, ebay and tandem classifieds since March, we finally found our tandem. It is an older Ibis that was right here in Portland, Oregon. The previous owner converted it from a mountain to a roadie. Now I am going to covert it back. Strange, it has two rear brake mounts. One has been removed. I would like to control both rear brakes with one lever.....? This is my first challenge.

Looks like a great find. We bought an older IBIS Cousin IT about a year ago. I believe ours is around a 96 model. Would love to see more pictures of your bike. When we bought our bike it still had the original hydraulic rim brakes which we have replaced. Hope that you enjoy your IBIS as much as we have. Here is a picture of our beast which we have named the Orange Blossom Special.

You can find more pics at a mountain bike forum:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=321658

I think you will have to create an account to view. It only takes a second.
Tandem Geek, above, pretty much nail it with what he said about my Ibis. I not too impress with the braking the way it is set up. I think when they converted it to a road tandem they put on the wrong brake levers (i.e. v-brake lever instead of cantilevers)

I double agree with both of you. I tried to adjust dual brakes on our Motobecane for years and finally just disabled the drum brake.

I just removed the dual control lever from my rebuild project (Mel Pinto Special Tandem) because it seems like a dumb idea to me. I plan to use an old thumb style friction shifter lever to attach to the rear drum brake. I figure I'll only need it to scrub off excess speed on long downhill runs (to avoid the overheating of rims that might cause the tire to soften enough to lose its seat on the rim).