Tandem Cycling - Help date a Burley Zydeco

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beaverstuff
11-02-07, 07:56 PM
Hi,
In October this year, I acquired a Burley Zydeco from a parishioner, who no longer wanted it.
(See my web page, http://www.jim.bike123.com/DetailZ.html)
I am trying to date it. The right-hand thumb shifter, a Shimano SL-M201, I gather, may have been manufactured in 1992. I don't know if this is the only year. I also don't know when the shifter would have been installed on the Burley. If any visitor needs more data, I'll try to accomodate.
Jim, the Beaver

PS: am looking for a stoker in Baltimore - wife doesn't ride.
Favorite ride is around the airport - PM me.

antiquepedaler
11-03-07, 09:42 AM
I'd get in touch with Larry Black, owner of Mount Airey. He's probably the 'premier font of knowledge" of all bikes tandem.
TandemGeek
11-03-07, 02:54 PM
While some of the components suggest the bike is pre-2000, your web page says it has a "Burley custom drawn 7005 aluminum tubeset". Burley's Zydeco tandems had chromoly steel frames until 2005, when the Zydeco frame material was changed to 7000 series "Veralite" aluminum and production was outsourced to Asia. So, something's amiss here.

If the frame is actually steel and not aluminum as noted on your Web page and you can be sure which of the components are truly original (my guess is that the Alevio parts are, but the wheels and thumbshifter definitely aren't), you can go to this Web site (http://www.bike-alog.com/BikePedia/Quickbike/Default.aspx)and find most of the parts specifications by year. My guess is you'll find that the components used around 1999 seem to most closely match what you have on your bike.

In closing, your best bet for nailing down the frame's vintage is to find the serial number (right rear drop-out on older Burley tandems) and then call Burley and ask them to decode it / check their records as to when it was produced.