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08-23-08, 12:17 AM
Hi, me and my partner have recently purchased a tandem. We are both pretty strong riders, and have previously done longish rides and overnight camping trips (roughly 50km or so). The tandem we have purchased is a bit of a clunker and can be seen here (http://goatonabicycle.com/rambles/?p=60). We are hoping to do some short camping trips on the tandem, but the bike needs a few improvements before that's a real possibility.
Firstly, there is no drag brake. From what I've read this is pretty much a necessity for long downhills, especially when loaded with gear. We aren't a heavy team (under 300lbs) but we do like to bring a book or two on our camping trips, as well as a bottle of wine and so on. The Arai drum brake seems to be the standard issue for this purpose, but the current rear hub doesn't appear to be compatible. I can't see any threading on the none-drive side for the drum brake to thread onto. This is leading me to think I might need to build a new wheel...
Secondly, the current gearing is a 12 speed. I haven't actually counted the teeth, but I think we have an 11-32 freewheel and 48 and 39 tooth chainrings for 365% gear range or thereabouts. So far we've rarely if ever found a need for the lowest gears, but I imagine that could change if we tack on 50-70 lbs of gear and have to climb a real hill or five.
So the first thing I thought was: "Finally! an excuse to buy a Rohloff!" but unfortunately the frame has no mounts for a disc brake, the rohloff is not drum brake compatible, and we are both still students.
So then I thought I'd buy the cheapest shimano tandem hub I could find and build a wheel from that, this seems to make the most sense, but I've noticed you can get a nexus 8 hub with a roller brake built in for the same price (or less). So my questions are:
Is the Shimano Nexus 8 capable of handling the loads of a tandem?
Would the roller brake in a shimano nexus hub make a good drag brake?
Is all of this pointless until I actually measure the OLD of the rear dropouts?
Firstly, there is no drag brake. From what I've read this is pretty much a necessity for long downhills, especially when loaded with gear. We aren't a heavy team (under 300lbs) but we do like to bring a book or two on our camping trips, as well as a bottle of wine and so on. The Arai drum brake seems to be the standard issue for this purpose, but the current rear hub doesn't appear to be compatible. I can't see any threading on the none-drive side for the drum brake to thread onto. This is leading me to think I might need to build a new wheel...
Secondly, the current gearing is a 12 speed. I haven't actually counted the teeth, but I think we have an 11-32 freewheel and 48 and 39 tooth chainrings for 365% gear range or thereabouts. So far we've rarely if ever found a need for the lowest gears, but I imagine that could change if we tack on 50-70 lbs of gear and have to climb a real hill or five.
So the first thing I thought was: "Finally! an excuse to buy a Rohloff!" but unfortunately the frame has no mounts for a disc brake, the rohloff is not drum brake compatible, and we are both still students.
So then I thought I'd buy the cheapest shimano tandem hub I could find and build a wheel from that, this seems to make the most sense, but I've noticed you can get a nexus 8 hub with a roller brake built in for the same price (or less). So my questions are:
Is the Shimano Nexus 8 capable of handling the loads of a tandem?
Would the roller brake in a shimano nexus hub make a good drag brake?
Is all of this pointless until I actually measure the OLD of the rear dropouts?