Tandem Cycling - Weekend Reading Material from The Bulletin Board

As mentioned in my signature line, my Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com is now being updated weekly Summaries are below with links to the full stories are available at the Web site. Unless anyone objects, I'll just post the compendiums here each week. It's interesting to see what and who comes up on my search engine....

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2009 Co-Motion Catalogs Are On The Street! I was thrilled to see a large while envelope bearing the Co-Motion logo on the counter when I arrived home from work yesterday as it could only be one of two things: an unsolicited job offer package or the 2009 catalog. Thankfully, it was the catalog (thanks Gary!) because after the week I had a downwardly mobile career change (income-wise) was looking pretty attractive. Anyway, as always great stuff... noting that it's the Periscopes and the new 26" Pangea single touring bike that have really captured my imagination of late. Look for them at your dealers or request one on line, or download a .pdf version if you're in the market for a new tandem or single bike. However, I would note that just about everything you see in the catalog is now available on Co-Motion's recently re-vamped Website.

When is a tandem not a tandem? When the riders aren't sitting one-behind-the-other. A tandem is, by definition, a two-wheeled bicycle where all of the riders sit in a single line... regardless of how many riders there are. Therefore, even if the tandem has 10 riders as the 1890's Oriten did, it's still a tandem. A recent article regarding a "16-seat tandem" in the UK brought this detail to mind as what they really had was a 16-seat pedal car with two rows of 8 passengers sitting on a four-wheel, human-powered vehicle. It was all for a good cause and you can read about it HERE. Same thing goes for the German-made 'Twike", a zero-emissions side-by-side pedal car where another journalist / blogger sees two seats and thinks "tandem".

Tandem folks on blogs: Mary Ellen from the SF Bay Area - Mary Ellen's husband, Rich, has been a long-time contributor to the tandem forum at www.bikeforums.net and my little search engine that could just stumbled over Mary Ellen's blog. Both are very focused cyclists who train hard (good grief they even have Russian coaches), kick serious butt on their single bikes and kick butt on the tandem; however, they have also become quite fond of Santana Cycles' lavish tandem cycling tours. You can read Mary Ellen's account of their most recent trip to Mallorca, Spain at her Blog HERE and Rich has posted his account along with photos HERE. We did one of Santana's more affordable tours many years ago at Asheville, North Carolina and it WAS lavish and spectacular. Given the time and resources, it's easy to see how many folks become regulars on Santana's tours.

Tandem Folks in the news: The Parents of Jennifer Schwartz - This is just a great article by Jennifer -- a BU grad and freelance writer -- about her parents and their discovery of tandems through a chance encounter with Mel & Barb Kornbluh of Tandems East at the Jersey Shore. Jennifer provides an entertaining, 3rd person view of how her parents went from angst filled single bike riding, through the sometimes challenging learning process of tandeming, before becoming avid tandem enthusiasts who headed off to Italy for a tandem tour this past September. You can read her story here.

Tandem folks on blogs: Tracey from down under - The short bio on her blog says it all: G'day, I'm Tracey... Mid 40s. One husband. 3 kids. Dysfunctional housewife. Still don't know what I want to do when I grow up. Some people I know think that I'm crazy. Sometimes I think they're right. Tracey's latest blog entry provides a colorful description of their recent tandem adventure: Around The Bay in a Day. A 210km bike ride around Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne to Melbourne. You can find her blog HERE.

Co-Motion / Gates Carbon Drive Update - Friend and tandem enthusiast (OK, he's more than an enthusiast) Henry of Webcyclery.com wrote to let us know that he's just finished upgrading his own Co-Motion Macchiato frame with one of the new Gates Carbon Drive belt & pulley sync drive. You can read his account of the installation and see photos of the final results HERE.

Tandem folks in my Email In-Box: Brenda & Larry of NJ - Friend and off-road tandem enthusiast Malcolm Boyd wrote to let us know about Brenda & Larry's record-setting finish during the sixth running of the Iron "Cross in the Micheax State Forest near Carlisle, PA, on October 12. As two of the 270 participants in what is billed as "Americas Longest Cyclocross Event", the blistered the 62 mile course with its 6,300' of vertical gain in 6 hours and 43 minutes. You can read Malcolm's entire account and see some photos HERE.

Robert Crampton of the Times On Tandems - Timesonline Columnist Robert Crampton shared his tandem experience in a recent article that you can find near the bottom of THIS PAGE. In short, whilst left without the family car and the need to transport his son to school he decided to give it a go on a tandem. Not just any tandem, but a rented relic of the golden age when men were men and tandems weighed 75 lbs and had one gear. It's a very entertaining read and his closing remarks are, in fact, the very essence of tandeming: Tandems, I realise, are all about trust.

Tandem folks in the news: Bruce and Gay Castle of Forest Meadows, CA - Bruce and Gay nabbed a mention in an account of the 2nd Annual Mr. Frogs Wild Ride and BBQ at Murphy's California. You can read the entire article HERE.

Smiley El-Abd on his Dual Disc Equipped Tandem - Co-Motion's blog included a guest entry this week by Smiley El-Abd who recently completed tours of Mallorca, Spain, and the Finger Lakes region of NY, with his new dual-disc equipped Co-Motion Periscope. You can read the entry and see photos HERE.

As mentioned in my signature line, my Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com is now being updated weekly Summaries are below with links to the full stories are available at the Web site. Unless anyone objects, I'll just post the compendiums here each week. It's interesting to see what and who comes up on my search engine....

------------

2009 Co-Motion Catalogs Are On The Street! I was thrilled to see a large while envelope bearing the Co-Motion logo on the counter when I arrived home from work yesterday as it could only be one of two things: an unsolicited job offer package or the 2009 catalog. Thankfully, it was the catalog (thanks Gary!) because after the week I had a downwardly mobile career change (income-wise) was looking pretty attractive. Anyway, as always great stuff... noting that it's the Periscopes and the new 26" Pangea single touring bike that have really captured my imagination of late. Look for them at your dealers or request one on line, or download a .pdf version if you're in the market for a new tandem or single bike. However, I would note that just about everything you see in the catalog is now available on Co-Motion's recently re-vamped Website.

When is a tandem not a tandem? When the riders aren't sitting one-behind-the-other. A tandem is, by definition, a two-wheeled bicycle where all of the riders sit in a single line... regardless of how many riders there are. Therefore, even if the tandem has 10 riders as the 1890's Oriten did, it's still a tandem. A recent article regarding a "16-seat tandem" in the UK brought this detail to mind as what they really had was a 16-seat pedal car with two rows of 8 passengers sitting on a four-wheel, human-powered vehicle. It was all for a good cause and you can read about it HERE. Same thing goes for the German-made 'Twike", a zero-emissions side-by-side pedal car where another journalist / blogger sees two seats and thinks "tandem".

Tandem folks on blogs: Mary Ellen from the SF Bay Area - Mary Ellen's husband, Rich, has been a long-time contributor to the tandem forum at www.bikeforums.net and my little search engine that could just stumbled over Mary Ellen's blog. Both are very focused cyclists who train hard (good grief they even have Russian coaches), kick serious butt on their single bikes and kick butt on the tandem; however, they have also become quite fond of Santana Cycles' lavish tandem cycling tours. You can read Mary Ellen's account of their most recent trip to Mallorca, Spain at her Blog HERE and Rich has posted his account along with photos HERE. We did one of Santana's more affordable tours many years ago at Asheville, North Carolina and it WAS lavish and spectacular. Given the time and resources, it's easy to see how many folks become regulars on Santana's tours.

Tandem Folks in the news: The Parents of Jennifer Schwartz - This is just a great article by Jennifer -- a BU grad and freelance writer -- about her parents and their discovery of tandems through a chance encounter with Mel & Barb Kornbluh of Tandems East at the Jersey Shore. Jennifer provides an entertaining, 3rd person view of how her parents went from angst filled single bike riding, through the sometimes challenging learning process of tandeming, before becoming avid tandem enthusiasts who headed off to Italy for a tandem tour this past September. You can read her story here.

Tandem folks on blogs: Tracey from down under - The short bio on her blog says it all: G'day, I'm Tracey... Mid 40s. One husband. 3 kids. Dysfunctional housewife. Still don't know what I want to do when I grow up. Some people I know think that I'm crazy. Sometimes I think they're right. Tracey's latest blog entry provides a colorful description of their recent tandem adventure: Around The Bay in a Day. A 210km bike ride around Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne to Melbourne. You can find her blog HERE.

Co-Motion / Gates Carbon Drive Update - Friend and tandem enthusiast (OK, he's more than an enthusiast) Henry of Webcyclery.com wrote to let us know that he's just finished upgrading his own Co-Motion Macchiato frame with one of the new Gates Carbon Drive belt & pulley sync drive. You can read his account of the installation and see photos of the final results HERE.

Tandem folks in my Email In-Box: Brenda & Larry of NJ - Friend and off-road tandem enthusiast Malcolm Boyd wrote to let us know about Brenda & Larry's record-setting finish during the sixth running of the Iron "Cross in the Micheax State Forest near Carlisle, PA, on October 12. As two of the 270 participants in what is billed as "Americas Longest Cyclocross Event", the blistered the 62 mile course with its 6,300' of vertical gain in 6 hours and 43 minutes. You can read Malcolm's entire account and see some photos HERE.

Robert Crampton of the Times On Tandems - Timesonline Columnist Robert Crampton shared his tandem experience in a recent article that you can find near the bottom of THIS PAGE. In short, whilst left without the family car and the need to transport his son to school he decided to give it a go on a tandem. Not just any tandem, but a rented relic of the golden age when men were men and tandems weighed 75 lbs and had one gear. It's a very entertaining read and his closing remarks are, in fact, the very essence of tandeming: Tandems, I realise, are all about trust.

Tandem folks in the news: Bruce and Gay Castle of Forest Meadows, CA - Bruce and Gay nabbed a mention in an account of the 2nd Annual Mr. Frogs Wild Ride and BBQ at Murphy's California. You can read the entire article HERE.

Smiley El-Abd on his Dual Disc Equipped Tandem - Co-Motion's blog included a guest entry this week by Smiley El-Abd who recently completed tours of Mallorca, Spain, and the Finger Lakes region of NY, with his new dual-disc equipped Co-Motion Periscope. You can read the entry and see photos HERE.

Yes, you found my wife's blog. She loves to write and does a great job keeping it up to date.

We met Smiley and his wife on the Mallorca tour and had a lot of fun together.

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. Summaries are below with links to the full stories, etc, available at the original host Web site.

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NOVEMBER 1st UPDATE

Ever Wonder Just How Popular Your Own Web Site Was Compared To #1 Yahoo? - Alexa Internet is a firm that collects information on Web traffic and then ranks Web sites in terms of traffic volume such that sites like CNN.com come in at #50 whereas FoxNews.com comes in at #227. Our Website came in at #2,635,683 which, while lower than Co-Motion at #1,771,404, was higher than Santana at #2,901,556 and significantly higher than the Tandem Club of America at #13,262,881. Anyway, as you can guess, I've created a spreadsheet that lists the Top 10 Websites along with some of the more well-known businesses and then 82 cycling and tandem cycling related Websites ranked from most visited to least. You can find my spreadsheet HERE.

Survey Said? Tandem Cyclists Are Probably More Self-Sufficient Than The Average Cyclist - Well, maybe not. I've stopped watching the data coming in on the Survey tool and captured the first 291 responses in a spread sheet that you can find HERE. You'll notice the data in my spreadsheet is a bit different than what you saw on line. For Questions #5 - #9 I added an 11th data point to account for the non-responses such that the percentages reflected for the other answers was normalized. I've also extracted the write-in replies and captured those in a separate spreadsheet that also provides my feedback to each of the comments provided you can find HERE. For future reference, these survey results have also been added to the 9 different surveys already contained on my Survey Archives Web page.


Summary of the Fall '08 Maintenance Poll: What the data seems to suggest is, the 291 folks who frequent Tandem@Hobbes, the Tandem sub-forum at BikeForums.net, and Double Forte (Off-Road Tandem Enthusiasts) and who were inclined to take my little survey are on average able to deal with most of the routine and even some of the more advanced bicycle maintenance tasks. More than 1/2 (53%) are pretty good about keeping up with the maintenance on their tandems, giving it a once over before major events, rides, or tours. Almost a 1/3 were able to buy their tandems from a relatively local dealer and about 1/2 of the respondents can get their tandem serviced locally, although 6% are struggling to get help. Interestingly, only 51% of the respondents reported a minor failure with 27% reporting a serious failure. Drive (21%) and sync (16%) chains accounted for most of the minor issues and broken seat posts or handlebars (12%) were the most reported of the serious issues. The serious failures resulted in injuries to 7% of the respondents.


Tandem Folks In The News: Tim & Marilyn Jones - Tim Jones wrote a nice account of a late fall outing he and his stoker Marilyn took along the Cape Cod Rail Trail System. This was not some blistering fast time trial but a very nice "12-mile-per hour, almost four-hour ride on the 22-mile-long" journey meant to enjoy the late season and togetherness. You can read the article HERE.

Tandem Folks In The Blogs: The Sneathen Family - The Sneathen family was granted the use of a neighbor's tandem recently that allowed them the opportunity to share cycling with their autistic son in a way that can only be experienced on a tandem. You can read their first impressions HERE.

Just how small is the Cycling World? Pretty darn small - While going through the blog items captured in my daily Google search engine results imagine my surprise when I saw a collection of off-road tandem cycling photos taken by friends here in the Atlanta / Tennessee area on an Aussie's Blog entry? Why yes, even we were there. The photos were poached from good friend David H's account and, well, I must confess I too have poached some of his photos with either tacit or explicit permission. Anyway, it is amusing to see once again how the Internet brings folks with like interests ever closer. You can see the Blog entry and photos HERE.

Tandem Folks In The News: Anne Baron & Annie Corner - Known locally as "The A Team", Great Habton resident Anne Baron and Annie Corner have teamed up on a tandem to raise donations for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. This particular article caught the duo after recently completing a 28 mile ride that raised an additional £2,000 for the charity. You can read the full article HERE.

Goondiwindi Launches new tandem cycling program for the disabled - Cycling Queensland and Sports Connect (coordinated in Queensland by Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Association) have formed a joint effort to promote inclusive sporting opportunities for school students and community members with a disability to participate in the sport of cycling. A two-day tandem bike ride from Toowoomba to Goondiwindi will officially turn the wheels on Goondiwindi's new tandem cycling program. You can read more about the program HERE.

Tandem Folks In The News: Dan & Cheri Bradley - Indiana State University president Dan Bradley and wife Cheri rode their tandem bicycle in this year's ISU Homecoming parade. You can read the entire article HERE.

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. Summaries are below with links to the full stories, etc, available at the original host Web site.

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NOVEMBER 8th UPDATE

Tandems on Sal Collura's VeloTV - Friend Henry of Webcyclery passed us a couple links to a special tandem series that Sal Collura produced for his show, VeloTV. You can find the links to these shows at Webcyclery's site by clicking HERE or at Co-Motion's Blog by clicking HERE. Webcyclery's site has all four parts of the show: the Intro, an interview with Henry & ace Stoker Amy as well as some footage from the Co-Motion Classic Crit, a Co-Motion tandem overview with Dwan Shepherd, and then a factory tour of Co-Motion where you can see how they build their tandems. The latter was, of course, my personal favorite.

Mars Girl & Mike Do The Red Flannel Century - Blogger "Mars Girl" from Stow, Ohio, provides a wonderful account of her time spent stoking on tandem during the Lorain County Wheelmen's premier end-of-season ride, the Red Flannel Metric Century. Read her Blog entry HERE.

Tandem Folks in the News: Tandems & Triplets in NZ - Bronwyn Torrie of the Manawau Standard caught up with Matthew Willey and 5-year old daughter Betty who rode the Tour de Manawatu on their tandem as well as Malcolm Vernon, Paul Gurran, and Chris Brownlie who tackled the tour on a triplet. You can read the entire story HERE.

In the Blogs: Taking A Tandem To The Polls - Chad describes his efforts to get to the polls on his bike to vote early and eventually succeeds when Megs joins him on their tandem. Read his Blog entry HERE.

In the Blogs: Nichole goes Night Cyclng - Nicole describes an outing with friends on her Blog, which you can read HERE. Tandem riding, in any form and for any reason, is a good thing to do.

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. Summaries are below with links to the full stories, etc, available at the original host Web site.

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November 15th Update

Motorist Temporarily Derails Pan-American Journey - The Vogel family -- two 10 year-old twin boys and their parents -- set off on a 30 month, 20,000 mile journey from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina along the Pan American Highway this past June 8th. While on a stop over in Albuquerque, New Mexico dad John and son Daryl were knocked down by a motorist while riding back to their guest's home after having their tandem serviced at a local bike shop. John was sore and Daryl was shaken but not harmed and the tandem is being looked at to see if it's been damaged. You can read the entire update at their Blog HERE. You can also read more about their journey and their tie-in with Reach the World, an educational 501(3)(c) non-profit organization with the mission of linking students in under-funded schools to online, global expeditions at their Website.

40 UK Tandem Teams Make Annual 2 Day, 434 Mile Run - Graham Adams, a former 24-hour tandem time trial champion, led 40 tandem teams on an annual round-trip journey from London to Shuttleworth and back this past week. They made the 434 mile trip in under 48 hours. The report of the trip came by way of the Northhampton Chronicle's website where they noted the group stopped by the Navigation Inn in Cosgrove for a pub lunch along their "double-quick-time" trip. In an interview with the Chronicle's reporter Graham gave the history of the annual journey, noting, "It really started after I and some friends went away on a tandem cycling holiday in 1965. We enjoyed ourselves so much we did it again the next year and ever since. It's great that it has grown so big but we do it for a bit of fun really."

Scunny Bunnies Raise Funds To Buy A Tandem For a Sightless Friend - Three young school girls, Holly Fincham (11), Bethany Ladlow (12) and Chloe Taylor (11) who dubbed themselves the Scunny Bunnies of Schunthorpe, put in over 1,000 hours of volunteer work over the summer and raised enough money to buy a fellow classmate a tandem bicycle. The friend, Jack Garner, lost his vision last year and wanted a tandem bicycle so that he could still compete in his schools triathlon competition. For their efforts, the three girls were selected as the winners of the Humberside Police Lifestyle competition. For their efforts, the three girls were rewarded with a holiday to Walt Disney World, in Florida. You can read the entire story and see a photo of all four kids HERE.

Santana Has Updated Their SafeCase Packing Instructions - At least, that's what I suspect happened. For whatever reason, my search engine discovered what appears to be a recent update to Santana's on-line information library and the 6-page, illustrated step-by-step (and I do mean step-by-step) instructions for disassembling / packing / unpacking / reassembling a Santana Stowaway tandem using their nifty but oversized Airliner SafeCase™ AND FTS™ Foam Tray System. You can find the .pdf document HERE.

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. Summaries are below with links to the full stories, etc, available at the original host Web site.

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November 22nd Update

Tandems in the Blogosphere: Petesblog & Connections - Again, my little search engine picks up all kinds of interesting things and often times it takes me a few minutes of reading to grasp the tandem connection. Petesblog, aka Taxi777 was one of those where the actual blog entry my search engine found wasn't all that revealing, making some mention of doing local rides with some tandem folks. However, as I read and checked his archives I discovered that Pete has ridden with quite a few of the San Francisco Bay Area tandem teams who frequent the BikeForums.net tandem sub forum: Rich & Mary Ellen, Chris & Deborah, Dave & Lisa, and Marco & Ruth. You can find the tandem specific profiles HERE and HERE along with photos of the four teams. NOTE: Pete has an awesome playlist / audio track running on his blog.

Trek Jumps Into Belt-Drive Market With Two Feet - You'll recall we had a series of articles on Co-Motion's new Gates Carbon-Drive, belt and pulley replacement for the conventional chain and sprocket timing chain on tandems a few weeks back. Interestingly enough, Trek has decided to introduce two belt-drive bike models in its line for 2009 and has put out a press release that is being picked up by various media outlets such as Bicycle Retailer and regional on-line news services. Now, Trek hardly sets the bar for fashion these days and is more or less trying to be all things to all markets with more models -- mostly produced off-shore nowadays -- than you could test ride in a year. However, it does suggest that Gates is really putting on the full-court press to capture a huge chunk of the bicycle parts industry. Too early to tell if their timing is perfect or will doom them to failure as we wait to see how the economic down turn affects bicycle sales.

Tandem Tech Talk: Just How Much Weight Is On Your Tandems Front Wheel? - During a recent discussion thread on one of the forums I frequent someone brought up a common misconception regarding tandems that suggests the front wheel stresses on a tandem are not much greater than those on a single. However, that's clearly not the case. Instead, the longer wheel base of a tandem and position of the captain causes somewhere between 40% and 50% of the tandem's total weight to sit on the front wheel, depending on the weight differential between captain and stoker. Several different tandem enthusiasts have actually taken the time to quantify this over the years and the results are always consistent. Looking at just one of these for a moment, the one by Ed Franks posted to Tandem@Hobbes back in the mid-90's, here's what he found:


In short, the captain's weight was split about 64/36 front to rear and the stoker's weight was split about 26/74 front to rear. For a notional team of 300 lbs where the captain is 160 lbs and a 40 lb tandem where the weight is split 45/55 front to rear you end up with this type of weight distribution.

160 lb captain = 102.4 lbs front & 57.6 lbs rear
140 lb stoker = 36.4 lbs front & 103.6 lbs rear
40 lb tandem = 18 lbs front & 22 lbs rear
340 lb loaded tandem = 156.8 lbs front & 183.2 lbs rear

Now, compare this to your notional single bike where the bike weighs 20 lbs and the loaded bike has a weight distribution of about 40/60 front to rear:

180 lb loaded single bike = 72 lbs front & 108 lbs rear

As you can see, there's more than twice as much weight sitting on the front wheel of a tandem as a single bike ridden by the same person captaining the tandem and, frankly, if you think about it a 36h single bike wheel isn't all that different in terms of design strength than a 36h wheel installed on a tandem. That a relatively standard 32h or 36h bicycle wheel holds up under the added stress and strain of a tandem is pretty amazing and stands as a testament to the strength of the basic bicycle wheel design. Just something to keep in mind for any future wheel building decisions or troubleshooting any handling issues you might be having if you're using a lightweight wheel that really wasn't designed for use on a tandem.

Tandem Folks in the News: Tucson's Roberts Family Gears Up For The Tour - Jon, while Jo, and now son Cole (10) have become permanent fixtures at the annual Tour de Tucson. Jon & Jo, both accomplished single bike racers in their own right, have also dominated the tandem class for many years. However, Jon has been teaming up with son Cole for the past few years and will do so again this year. You can read more about the Roberts in this recent profile story by the Tucson Citizen.

Tandem Folks in the News: Cambria's retiring Fire Chief a Tandem Enthusiast; Who Knew? - In in interview with Cambria California's now retired Fire Chief, Bob Putney, he revealed that one of he and his wife's interests that they'll pursue with more vigor in retirement is tandem cycling; how cool is that? You can read more about his career as a fire fighter and contributions to the safety and well-being of Cambria's citizens HERE.

Armstrong Peugeot Festival of Speed Features Several Tandem Events - In just four years, Christchurch New Zealand's Armstrong Peugeot Festival Of Cycling has become one of New Zealand's premier cycling events featuring the full spectrum of racing, from pros to kids and all classes in between. Featuring prominently in the events that will be held on Dec 6 & 7 are tandems. In addition to having tandem classes for the sight impaired disabled classes, tandem sport classes, and a celebrity tandem fund raising race for Cure Kids NZ. You can read more about this great event HERE.

Need a Little Motivation Before Setting Your 2009 Cycling Goals? - Although there is only one mention of a tandem in this story, it does qualify Tucson resident Frank Vasquez's story for a mention in the Bulletin Board. Frank is cut from similar cloth as fellow septuagenarians and tandem cycling icons Rudy & Kay Van Renterghem who will likely ride in the Tour de Tucson this year as well. However, Frank's story caught our attention since this year's event will also mark his 75th birthday. To commemorate the event he, two sons, two daughters and two in-laws are hoping to complete the 109 mile route in under seven hours. You can read the entire story HERE.

Tandems in the Blogosphere: The Muray's from Ventura, California - Mauny and Elaine Muray have been touring Italy by tandem bicycle since September and have created a nice account of their journey and other tandem adventures on their personal blog which you can find HERE.

Anyone Interested In Being A Part Of a RAAM Tandem Team? For those who don't know, RAAM is the annual Transcontinental bicycle Race Across America that takes place each June and for 2009 Kathy Urschel is looking for a pilot as well as a few other tandem teams with an interest in tackling this epic race. If you or anyone you know might be interested in learning more about this opportunity, please contact Steve Weschler at netchiro@dreamscape.com. The following in an excerpted article by Kerry White that was included in the November RAAM Newsletter shared with us by good friend from the Chicago suburbs, Marvin Boehm who, along with monster stoker Mary, are probably thinking to themselves, "hey, that would be fun!".


November 18th, 2008
Kathy Urschel - Team Two Mixed-Up 1997 Tandem Team RAAM Finisher
By Kerry White

Does the phrase - I want to do RAAM "Just One More Time" sound familiar... anyone who has competed in RAAM has probably said this more than once and for Kathy Urschel - this is her current wish -to compete in RAAM with a team of Tandems. Kathy is a stoker and is seeking a pilot as well as a few other Tandem pairs to form a RAAM team for 2009.

Kathy has a list of accomplishments that would take several pages to list but if you had an opportunity to watch the 1996 Olympic Torch Parade through Central New York - that was Kathy bearing the torch and Olympic flame. She then became a silver medalist in the Olympic/Paralympics in Atlanta. She and her partner held the American record in 3K mixed-pair team cycling.

This amazing lady has an unbreakable spirit - she became blind due to "a vasculitis of an unknown etiology" plunged her into darkness at the age of 21, and along the way the strange virus also claimed her hearing. These conditions however, do not deter her, adding to her incredible ability to overcome adversity, after a horrifying crash in Colorado Springs in 1999 after competing in the World Track Championships - Kathy was in a coma for 4 days during which time blood clots formed in her legs resulting in a stroke. The Doctors told her she would never walk again - 9 months later she qualified for the Sydney 2000 Paralympic/Olympic games and placed 11th. Kathy was inducted into the Syracuse Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of her incredible achievements. This lady is the an example of unmatched optimism and inspiration.

If you would like to team up with Kathy for RAAM 2009 please contact Steve Weschler at netchiro@dreamscape.com


Tandems in the Blogosphere: Chris & Logan from NZ - Well, the subject line and subtext of their blog pretty much says it all, "Blind & Crazy (or how to tandem mountain bike). Chris is a keen, slightly lazy mountain biker. Logan is ex-army, blind, and madder than a box of badgers. Both live in Christchurch, New Zealand, with their demanding wives and children. Together, they are climbing onto a tandem mountain bike and hitting the mud and hills in an effort to learn all there is to learn about tandem mountain biking. The most recent blog entry includes what is essentially a primer on tandem cycling as well as some unusual videos they discovered on YouTube. You can check it all out HERE.

Tandems in the Blogosphere: Mike and Bernice of Ocala, Florida - There's just nothing better than the day you finally take possession of that first REALLY special tandem. Mike, yet another BikeForums.net tandem list regular, shared some photos of their new Co-Motion Speedster Co-Pilot at his blog. Congrats on the new ride.

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. Summaries are below with links to the full stories, etc, available at the original host Web site.

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November 29th Update (477)

Co-Motion Launches Tool That Let's You Mix Paint On Line - The folks at Co-Motion have hosted out a new tool (see snapshot below) on their Color Options Page that allows you to see what color you'll get in the transition area when you select a fade for your tandem. As Dwan notes in the update, you really don't want to fade Red into White unless you are willing to live with a bike or tandem that's Red/Pink/White. Likewise, fading dark colors will usually result in a less than lovely brownish color. You can access the tool at their Color Options Page.




Note: My apologies to anyone who may have been confused by my poor segue to the anecdote and examples of the paint scheme tool I created back in 1998 that appeared in my initial Bulletin Board Update. As you can see, the Co-Motion tool is rather straight forward in that it allows you to see how two colors will appear as they overlap on a representation of a single frame tube. My tool was created using Freehand and overlayed a cutout of a tandem frame on a color palate that could be parsed into multiple color gradiants that could be rotated to represent an entire paint scheme... definitely not a user-friendly, web-based tool to be sure.


SF Bay Area's Adaptive Cycling Center: Beyond Tandems - For anyone with a disability who wants to experience the joy of riding a bike there are a multitude of different ways to do that. In addition to traditional upright tandems which provide the sight and hearing impaired with an outlet, to include elite level competition, some tandem enthusiasts are also aware that the Counterpoint / Viewpoint / Harmony semi-recumbent tandem provides yet another way for someone to experience cycling with the help of another rider. San Francisco's Bay Area Outreach & Recreation Program (BORP) was recently the subject of a SFGate piece that highlights how their Adaptive Cycling Center provides yet another outlet for would-be cyclists who have loss the use of their lower extremities and, in one case, a cyclist without arms. You can read the entire SFGate piece, see photos, and a short video HERE. Kudo's to BORP for all their efforts and ability to see handicaps as opportunities not problems.

So, does this qualify as an 'Open Frame' tandem? Although photos of Jens Eichler's wooden tandem "Renovatia" have been floating around the internet since he unveiled it back in August of 2006, it and several other two-wheeled 'objects de art' were featured on the worldmustbecrazy blog this week that are worth a look. You'll find Renovatia about 1/2 way down the page at THIS PAGE.

In the Blogoshphere: Daisy, Daisy reprised in beautiful wedding invitation - For any tandem or cycling enthusiasts looking to tie the knot who want to build their wedding theme around cycling, Kristy at Momental Designs has come up with a fantastic invitation that really warrants your attention. You can see her creation HERE. While we're on the subject of weddings, I should probably make mention that anyone looking for a unique wedding cake topper with a tandem (or cycling) theme might want to check out Leo Lymans' website and the blown-glass toppers that he makes. You'll find links to Leo's website and a few other cycling-related gift businesses at our Website's Links page by clicking on THIS LINK.

A cycling version of Monopoly called Cycleopoly: Who Knew? I guess it's hardly a stretch since Monopoly games have been morphed into over 400 different "versions" including everything from the Alaska Iditarod special edition to Wineopoly and even a Stripoploy version for adults with the always popular Strip 'n Sip add-on game. Anyway, you can find this game all over the Web; just Google on cycleopoly.

3,000 Parts In A Chain??? How did I miss that! Last week you'll recall I included a short article on Trek's introduction of two new bikes that will replace the traditional chain drives with the same Gates Carbon Drive belt Co-Motion has spec'd for it's racing tandems. Fortunately, that article was written by someone who knows something about bicycles. I say that because I stumbled across the original article released by AP and it included this little factual error: Bjorling said the new belts are a low-maintenance solution to a chain, which has roughly 3,000 parts including all the links and connectors. What I'd like to know is how they came up with 3,000 parts in a bicycle chain and why so many news outlets simply ran with that number instead of asking themselves, "can that be right?" By my calculations, using a current bushing less chain that works out to be a chain with 375 links that's about 31' long... compared to say the 47 link chain that's on my fixed gear bike. Even doing a throwback to the days when chains had bushings you come up with less than 600 parts in a chain used on a multispeed / derailleur equipped bike.

Tandems in TV Ads: They're Usually Pretty Good - Like any tandem enthusiast I usually get a kick out of seeing tandem bicycles placed into movies, TV shows, and advertising when done so with class. Someone recently alerted me to a current Stella Artois beer commercial entitled the "The Race" where a 1930's 'tour de France-like" tandem race is taking place in, well, France. You can see it HERE. Here are a couple others that have caught my imagination:


This is one of my favorites... Norman Rockwellian: In Walgreen's "Town called Perfect" series entitle Keeping up with the Joneses, about 2/3's of the way through the ad there's a couple on a tandem with a trail-a-bike (The Joneses) who get chased down by another family on a triplet / trail-a-bike as they cross a bridge: KEEPING UP WTH THE JONES
This one from the UK is a soy margarine ad with a kid-size quad (four-seat) tandem that appears early in the ad; however, note that there are a few moments of static for the first 1/4 of the video clip: KID-SIZE QUAD
This last one from Axe is like most Axe ads, it's pretty darn racy but still tickles my funny bone: AXE TANDEM AD


Tour de Tucson & Tandem Class Winner - 52-year old physician and ImaTX Therapeutics CEO Evan Unger teamed up with Dwight Nelson to capture the tandem class at this year's Tour de Tucson in a time of 4 hours, 32 minutes, and two second. You can read the entire story HERE.

Charles Tripp & Eli Bowen, consummate showmen - Again, it's truly amazing what I'll find in my Email each day and this was no exception. You can read more about Tripp & Bowen as well as the background on the photo HERE.

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. Summaries are below with links to the full stories, etc, available at the original host Web site.

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DECEMBER 6th UPDATE (557)

From the Blogosphere: Wine and Wheels - I stumbled across this particular Blog on a day when it featured a home-made, rear-steer triplet for an adult captain and two kids. While I'd be somewhat concerned about ride qualities and front wheel stability, it's certainly an innovative design. If you explore the "Recent Articles" you'll find links to other tandem oddities, photos, and items of interest. Pretty cool.

Someone Got A New Tandem - While I'm not quite sure who Mike & Becky are, I do know that they now have a really slick-looking Co-Motion Macchiatto. Photos of their new ride hosted out on Flickr popped up on the KGSBikes Blog today and the paint job is really quite an eye- popper... in a good way. Take a look HERE, noting that there are a ton of photos if you scroll to the left. Of course, perhaps the real story here is Kevin G. Saunders and KGS Bikes; a truly high-end bicycle boutique / studio operation down in San Antonio, Texas. For all of those who have ever dreamed about combining a love for cycling, art, and photography in a high-end cycling business... this is it.


Brand Bias Disclaimer: You know, as I look back over the last few months of Bulletin Board entries it certainly appears as though I have a bias towards Co-Motion given all of the mentions that it receives. However, under the umbrella of "full disclosure" I must tell you that Co-Motion gets so many mentions on my Bulletin Board only because it gets so many mentions on the Internet. In addition to their new Blog, which accounts for at least one new item per month... sometimes two, my search engines consistently return numerous mentions regarding the brand on various Blogs and Internet news items. I'd also note, in addition to my generic 'tandem' search string I also have specific search strings for 'Santana', Calfee, Burley, and 'Co-Motion. The vast majority of Burley items that I receive are related to their trailers, Calfee items are dominated by the Bamboo bicycle articles and mentions, and the Santana items are far and few between. I can't explain why this is the way it is; however, it's what I have to work with and perhaps it does say something about the Internet and consumer demographics relative to tandems. I believe we've seen this in some of our Internet ownership polls over the years as well. Anyway, lest anyone who owns or favors one of the many other fine brands of tandems feel disenfranchised, I thought I'd shed a little light on this apparent bias that, well, really isn't anything I have control over.


Tandem folks in the news: Denise and John Compt in Australia - Denise and John got a mention in a recent article regarding this year's Great Victorian Bike Ride. You can read the article and find photos of the couple HERE.

In the Blogosphere: The Ragfield's fetch a Christmas Tree on Their Tandem - Believe it or not, Melissa and Bob Ragfield apparently opted to use their tandem and a trailer to fetch this year's 7' tall Christmas tree on a cold, damp day that saw a little sleet in Urbana, Illinois. You can read more about their journey and see photos HERE.

Katie Compton: Someone You Should Know About - Who is Katie Compton? Well, the best way to brush up is to check out some recent articles posted on BLOGs, VeloNews, and her Wikipedia entry. However, relative to tandem cycling, Katie teamed with paralympic cyclist Karissa Whitsell from 2002 through 2004, culminating in 4 medals during the 2004 Paralympic games. Karissa teamed up with Mackenzie Woodring for the 2008 Paralympics and brought home a Gold & Silver in road cycling events, plus a Bronze in Track cycling.

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. Summaries are below with links to the full stories, etc, available at the original host Web site.

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DECEMBER 13th UPDATE (673)

Oh the Rallies they be a comin! - It's that time of the year again when many are forced off the roads by snow or cold weather and struggle through endorphin withdrawal. However, it's also that time of year when web sites for the next year's rallies start to pop up and registration opens! During the past week or so we've learned the Midwest Tandem Rally's web site is now on-line (LINK) and so is the Eastern Tandem Rally's (LINK). As always, you can check the dates, locations and find links to a plethora of the major regional tandem rallies in North America as well as the UK and it's neighbors at our Tandem Rally Web Page.


Tandem folks in the news: Shelly and Emerson Stern, Belmont, VA - The local NBC news station recently carried a story that highlighted how Shelly & son Emerson have turned the morning drive to school and commute to work into a tandem cycling opportunity. You can read the story and see the video clip HERE.

Tandem folks in the news; Pat & Andy Baxter of Midmar, Scotland - Pat and Andy decided to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary by taking a nice ride on their tandem: a 950 mile ride to be exact, cycling from Lands End to John O'Groats over 21 days. And, to make it worth their while they also raised £3,470 for Breast Cancer. You can read their entire story HERE.

Back-to-back recumbent tandems - OK, let me confess that I'm not the most open-minded guy when it comes to everything cycling. I'm something of a traditionalist who eschews things like "Critical Mass" as well as the transient cults and fads that seem to comprise a small segment of the cycling community. Recumbents have always been something that I've had more or less a passing curiosity in as they do appear to have their merits, particularly for folks who might not not otherwise be able or have any desire to ride a "wedgie" (aka, an upright bicycle with a saddle wedged into your tweeners). However, someone's going to have to help me out with the back-to-back recumbents. I think the first one I ever saw was a variation of the Opus Counterpoint called the "Waltz" that added a third rider facing backwards in a recumbent posture and, well, Ok that really was weird. Of late, I've seen several others including one couple from Texas who has a Barcroft and a Flavo and more recently a home-built showed up in the news that you can see HERE. I recently joked to the Flavo owners... so, are you coming or going when they posted this photo to one of the forums I frequent. Hey, as long as you're riding together, that's all that matters since it really doesn't matter what you're riding so long as you ride!!

Start Your Kids Out In Tandem - This may even be more exotic than the pint-size quad we introduced you to a few weeks back... How about a tandem, triple or quad tricycle for your brood? Kettler has started to market a tandem Insert for its tricycles: too cool. Oh yea, and while I was checking this thing out (these aren't cheap, by the way once you add in the $180 tricycle) I ran across a must-see bicycle site for any family with an interest in cycling and little ones: Tricycle Fetish - The Site For Everything Tricycle.

Tandem folks in the news: John Ansell, of Jannali, Australia - John Ansell, 66, of Jannali set off last Saturday in the rear position of a tandem bike and joined 41 other riders for a 900-kilometer Sydney to Melbourne Bike for Bibles fund-raiser run by Gymea Baptist Church. You can read the entire story and see a photo of John along side his stead HERE.

The Bicycle Pirate: Fashion Photo With A Flair - OK, this one's a bit off the beaten track for "tandem banter"; however, it's kinda like stumbling onto a great musical talent in a genre that you would have never been interested in... except for that one song. Her one song was a whimsical bio that I found on a different blog and, well, it captured my imagination despite the bad grammar:


"I am a bicycle pirate. I was born on a the back of a tandem bicycle and it is on a bicycle i have stayed. i have had many wonderful bicycle friends through my life . . . I have been on wonderful adventures with all of them through forests, across oceans, through suburban mayhem, and through fields of daisies. So join Mary Anne, Jack, Theodore (my trusty camera), Mr green bin (my trusty tripod) and i, as we embark on and adventure full of beautiful fashion, photography and words . . . "

You can see her Blog and bicycle / fashion / lifestyle photos HERE.


You might be a cyclist if.... The humor of By Joe 'Metal Cowboy' Kurmaskie was captured on THIS Blog. Definitely worth a read for a couple of good chuckles and, well, the truth sometimes hurts.

The Incredible Shrinking Wheel - This is a video has been floating around the web without a whole lot of background and, well, the back ground is far more interesting than the video. The riders on the tandem are sight-impaired stoker Anthony Kappes being piloted by Barney Storey and the tire/wheel failure occurred as they were preparing for the '08 Paralympic games. You can read more about them HERE (Pre-Paralympics) and see how they did HERE.

Netherlands' Deputy Social Minister Prefers Her Tandem - Although she will have a chauffeured car at her disposal, Jetta Klijnsma - the Netherlands new deputy social affairs minister - says she prefers to ride her bike with her tandem chauffeur' Rob Schroode, just like she's been doing, despite her disability while serving on the municipal council in The Hague. See the YouTube Video HERE.

S&S Bicycle Torque Coupling Stem? - Yes, that's what I said too. But, low and behold, it does exist . Stepping back from my station in life as a bicycle geek, I can see how it might be a lot easier to undo a single S&S coupler than loosening the three screws that hold a stem onto a fork steerer or removing 3 of the 4 screws that hold handlebars onto an open face stem. You can read more about it HERE.

The Vogels Are Back in the News - You may recall a recent posting regarding the Vogel family of Boise, ID, who are making their way from Alaska to Argentina by bike. You can find a recent update on their progress in this news story out of El Paso, Texas, HERE.

Tandem folks in the Blogosphere: Brian Jenks - Brian recently posted an update to his blog that offers some great insight into how tandems sometimes demand unconventional solutions to achieve the right balance of performance and reliability in a world where no one really makes tandem-specific components. His entry and photos of a new '08 Co-Motion Speedster 'touring' tandem can be found HERE.

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. The actual Links to the full stories, etc, that are the basis for my summaries are available here: http://www.thetandemlink.com.

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DECEMBER 20th UPDATE (763)

How About Giving Your Tandem Partner A Tour For Christmas? Instead of finding an update on their tours in my mailbox, this year's update from Santana came via Email. Entitled "Tandem Holidays!", Santana's digital flyer starts off with a very compelling and well-timed pitch for their upcoming tours: "Here's a last minute idea for a great gift to share with your favorite tandem partner. The perfect holiday present is healthy, romantic and doesn't require a trip to the mall. A tandem getaway is an escape from everyday stress that you'll anticipate now, share later, and remember forever. While you don't need our help to plan a simple weekend that combines a comfy inn with scenic cycling and guilt-free dining; here are pre-wrapped ideas that can be ordered by phone." There are a series of short descriptions for each of their tours with links back to their Web site's touring pages. Nicely done and quite timely. Unfortunately, if you're not already on Santana's mailing list and/or they don't have a current Email address, you probably won't see one of these messages. However, as noted, the information is available on their website: http://santanatandem.com/Vacations07.html

tandem-bicycle-central.com? It would appear a new tandem information site has recently been launched, or that the Google spiders have just found it. Looks like I'm way behind the power curve or maximizing the revenue-generating potential of my web traffic. Oh well, cest la vie.

Yet Another Macchiatto from KGS Bikes - Wowzer. Yet another Macchiatto has hit the pages of the KGS Bikes Blog. The high-end tandem market certainly appears to be doing quite well as I've read quite a few postings where folks are discussing their new Calfees, new Santana Beyonds and of course the more recent Co-Motion Macchiatto reveals from KGS. However, in a follow-up Email with Kevin Saunders about the new Co-Mo I was deeply disappointed to hear that Campagnolo is no longer offering the Chorus or Record rear derailleurs in a long-cage model, noting that these have been our rear derailleurs of choice since 2002 when they were first introduced. While I'm sure the Comp Racing T is mechanically sound as a substitute, the loss of that very nice touch of carbon on the rear derailleur comes as a big disappointment. Anyway, less I digress, it's nice to see that someone else has just gotten their dream-machine in time for Christmas.

Idaho History: Bicycles were all the rage in Idaho in the 1890s - Just a really neat article in the Idaho Stateman's on-going history series that includes a mention of a tandem ridden by Miss Edna Shaw and Harry Shellworth in the account of a 1896 Fourth of July parade that had some 100 bicycles. You can read the article HERE.

Miscellaneous Ramblings: Bicycle saddle or bicycle seat? - Over the years the term saddle and seat has been used interchangably for that thing you sit on when you ride a bike. Now, just looking at the history of the bicycle and the etymology of the terms, saddle does seem to be the most appropriate term for that thing you sit on when riding an upright bicycle or tandem where the top tube is analogous to the spine (aka, saddle) of a horse's back (look it up). In contrast, even though a recumbent bicycle has a spine, they clearly have a 'seat' instead of a saddle. Now, here's the interesting part: when's the last time anyone ever bought a saddle post?

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. The actual Links to the full stories, etc, that are the basis for my summaries are available here: http://www.thetandemlink.com.

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DECEMBER 25th UPDATE (825)

Ididarod On A Tandem Not To Be - Jon and Denise Whyte established a very ambitious goal for themselves and that was to compete in the 1,000 Ididarod Trail Invitational; a trans-Alaskan cycling adventure race that follows the Ididarod dog sled trail. However, desire gave way to the realities of just how demanding conditions are and the 50-year-olds who are accomplished distance racers. You can read their story and learn more about the Ididarod HERE.

Tandem folks in the Blogosphere: the Days - In anticipation of tackling the Bicycle Ride Across Georgia (BRAG) in 2009, the Day's gave themselves a Trek T900 for Christmas. They plan to make the trans-Georgia journey together with their son and daughter in a double trailer. You can find a short mention of their plans and see the family with their tandem and trailer HERE.

Those Wandering Wickershams - Remember seeing those commercials about retirement planning where, well, the couples featured in those semi-humorous sport didn't do any of that planning? Art & Judee Wickersham didn't have that problem and have been touring the world on their tandem since 2005. We received a nice Christmas greeting from them this week noting they're taking the month off down on the Costal Del Sol in Spain. You can learn more about their journeys at their Web site by clicking HERE.

North American Handmade Bicycle Show "Original Six" - The North American Handmade Bicycle Show's (NAHBS) founder, Don Walker, has decided to mark the show's fifth anniversary by celebrating the "Original Six" as in the six frame builders who have exhibited every year since the first NAHBS in Houston, Texas. Tandem connection = Craig Calfee & Don Walker have built some pretty cool tandems over the years.




Tandem folks in the news: The Calzaretta family does the Transcontinental - An NPR affiliate recently aired a story that focused on the Calzaretta families 4,000 mile journey from Oregon to Maine on a pair of tandems. You can listen to the story at NPR by clicking HERE and you can visit the Calzaretta's web site HERE.

Tandems in the Blogosphere: Petesblog & More On Tandems - About a month ago I posted an item on Petesblog, aka Taxi777 regarding some unexpected tandem connections. Pete recently posted some really neat profiles of his tandem friends entitled the tandem couples of NorCal that you can find HERE. NOTE: As previously noted, Pete has an awesome playlist / audio track running on his blog.

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. The actual Links to the full stories, etc, that are the basis for my summaries are available here: http://www.thetandemlink.com.

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JANUARY 3rd UPDATE (933)

The Devil Does It Again - If you're a fan of professional cycling or have at least watched the Tour de France chances are you're seen Didi Senft, the guy who dresses up as the devil or "El Diablo". Didi has at least one other claim to fame and that's a penchant for building the largest and smallest bicycles and tandem bicycles in the world. You can see his latest creation, the Guitar Bicycle, along with his monster-sized tandem by clicking HERE or you can visit his Website where you'll find a few photos of his museum: http://www.tourteufel.de/html/museum.html

In the Blogoshpere: Jeff & Louse Davis, Seattle, WA - As noted in their Blog profile, Jeff and Louise are retired tandem enthusiasts who have created something of a travel log with accounts and photos from their various journeys that you can find HERE.

Tandem Folks in the News: Brian & Barbara Thompson of the UK - Retirees Brian and Barbara Thompson traveled to Australia over the Christmas holiday to visit family and to tackle the 150-mile long Great Ocean Road. Read the complete story HERE.

Bike Friday & Co-Motion Featured in Bicycle Retailer & Industry News (BRAIN) - BRAIN ran an interesting article over the weekend that focused on Eugene, Oregon's home-grown bicycle manufacturing business, providing some insight into Bike Friday and Co-Motion Cycles. Read the complete story HERE.

Tandem Folks in the News: Simon Giles & Matt Wadham of the UK - Simon Giles & Matt Wadham plan to begin a 300-mile ride on January 9 in an effort to raise money for Leukaemia Research. You can read the entire story HERE.

Tandem Folks in the News: The Ellis Family of Brooklyn, NY - The Ellis family from Brooklyn, NY, was spotted by a local reporter on December 28th while they were out riding in Fredericksburg, Virginia. While I struggle a bit with the idea of putting a family of 5 on a Bob Jackson tandem built for 2 with a single child seat I'm reminded, "to each their own". You can read the entire story and see a photo of the Ellis' on their Bob Jackson HERE.

Tandem Folks in the Blogosphere: Randy & Bernice, Ocala, FL - Randy posted an account of their day-after Christmas, 94-mile ride to Gainesville, FL, with friends that you can read HERE.

Why Do So Many Non-Racer Cyclists Ride Racing Bikes? Chris Kulczycki, owner of Velo Orange, along with several other cycling enthusiasts from Seattle, WA, are strong advocates of the classic touring bicycle as an alternative for non-racing cyclists who might be better served by a more comfortable ride. I recently gave myself what I refer to as my "Vintage Bicycle Quarterly Library" as a Christmas present and have been immersed in the 'classics' throughout the holiday break: it's quite interesting. Anyway, lest I digress, you can read the entire story from the Sunday Time's HERE.

Copyrights And The Internet: Yes Virginia, There Are Limits - I recently ran across a new web site catering to tandem enthusiasts that reinforced the need for budding internet Web Masters to study up on copyright laws BEFORE compiling content for a Website, commercial or otherwise. In fact, TheTandemLink.com is set up as a link site and only uses short summaries of articles on the Bulletin Board as a way of complying with the spirit and intent as well as the legaleze of copyright laws. The following are links to a couple web pages that provide pretty good information pertaining to what is protected, to include your own intellectual property.

- Copyright and the Internet, by Virginia Montecino

- 10 Big Myths about copyright explained, by Brad Templeton

Bottom Line: You can't copy other people's writings, renderings or even their link lists without first obtaining their explicit permission to do so.

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. The actual Links to the full stories, etc, that are the basis for my summaries are available here: http://www.thetandemlink.com.

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JANUARY 17th UPDATE (1,024)

Alabama Tandem Weekend, April 17-19 - Jack Goertz wrote to let us know the 2009 Alabama Tandem Weekend will be a redeux of last year's low-key / no-fee 2008 'Tandems on the Trail' based out of Anniston, Alabama. Dates selected are April 17-19. The basic format / event schedule looks like this:


Friday -- Meet at the Victoria Inn, Anniston, AL. Rides in the area. Maps can be downloaded from the web. Group rate has been arranged @ Victoria Inn. Friday night -- Dinner on your own in Anniston.
Saturday -- Meet at the Chief Ladiga Trailhead (time TBA). Ride will be to Cedartown, GA. Lunch on your own in Piedmont, AL. Overnight @ Holiday Inn Express, approximate 1 mile north of trail, in Cedartown, GA. Be prepared to carry your own gear for the overnight. Those wishing to ride more than 45 miles may continue on the Silver Comet trail as far as they'd like, then return to the Holiday Inn Express. Group rate has been arranged @ HI Express/ Cedartown. Saturday night is dinner on your own in Cedartown
Sunday -- Meet in front of the HI-E (time TBA) for the ride back to Anniston trail head. If lunch is desired before Anniston, it's on your own @ either Piedmont, AL or Jacksonville, AL. At the end of the ride, put your tandem back in your car, say your good-byes, and see you in 2010!
Past Alabama Tandem Weekend participants will receive additional information via Email and others who would like to receive information can send an Email to Jack at: goertz@mindspring.com

Tandem@Hobbes Archive Searches - It would appear that Alex Wetmore's search engine temporarily stopped archiving Tandem@Hobbes list content back on December 17th. Alex has advised that he is in the process of running the disconnect to ground and will endeavor to return it to service. In the mean time, if you have a need or desire to look back and read previous postings made after December 17th there is still the Hobbes Hypermail tool. You can find it HERE and it's rather intuitive to use... just not as clean reading as Alex's tools as all of the source data is presented in the results.

Tandem Folks in the News: Danny & Karen Knutson of Redondo Beach, CA - All Danny wants to be able to do now is 1) ride his tandem with his wife, 2) dance at his son's wedding, and 3) find the hit-and-run motorist who put him into the hospital for the past seven months. Please see the linked article HERE and if you live in SoCal and have information on the whereabouts of the suspect vehicle or driver, please contact the Redondo Beach police at 310-318-0621.

[Warning: The Following Update Could Cause A Desire To Upgrade Your Tandem]

Co-Motion Blog Update on Carbon-Drive Belts - Good thing our tandems have extra-long rear stoker compartments, otherwise I'd be whipping out my checkbook! Co-Motion recently posted an update on their exclusive Gates Carbon-Drive tandem sync belt system and the very positive feedback they've been receiving from the folks who've already made the switch or who have new racing tandems fitted with the system. They also noted that other builders are also expressing an interest. To make matters worse, Co-Motion has also put a new FAQ on-line that you can find HERE that demystifies the form, fit and function of the Gates Carbon-Drive sync belts AND they've also shared a link to a Gates YouTube video that provides some basic belt-handling tips.

French Fashion Embraces The Tandem; Who Knew? The chic French fashion brand Comptoir des Cotonniers will be offering a tandem leisure bike this Spring as many of the world's trendy lifestyle fashion brands move to capitalize on the renaissance of the always-green alternative for sport and transportation, the bicycle. You can read about the fashion industry's move into the cycling genre HERE and see the Comptoir des Cotonniers lovely red £1284 tandem HERE.

You Got Me... Google "Tandem", Poach a Photo & Paste to Your Blog - Here's an interesting Blog that appears to bring you a photo-a-day of tandem bicycles with an occasional single bike thrown-in and a very brief commentary on the photo. Replete with the ubiquitous Google ads (yes, I must admit I too have put them on my site after being told I was foolish not to), I suspect there will continue to be more and more outlets like this as folks look for ways to generate a little revenue from their interest in tandem cycling.

Tandem Folks in the News: Tad Johnson and Victor Shen - Tad and Victor decided to shake things up at the inaugural Bogstomp bicycle cross race held back on December 13 near Eureka, California. You can read the entire article HERE.

Tandem 'Whizzer" spotted at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum - During a recent visit to the spectacular Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Birmingham, Alabama we discovered the museum had added a rather extensive display of 'Whizzers' since our first visit a few years back. Most notable was the inclusion of a tandem Whizzer that was prominently displayed over the 1st Mezzanine level elevator door. In an exchange with tandem-guru, entrepreneur and Barber volunteer Jack Goertz of Tandems Limited we learned that Jack had a hand in the restoration of the tandem Whizzer. Given that we've found several tandem cyclists to also be motorcycle owners, let me just say that the Barber Museum deserves to be on your Bucket List. Plan to spend at least 6 hours, maybe more. In fact, it would probably take a full two days to see and read everything on display and, well, there's not much that isn't interesting there.

Yours Truly Bags A New Two-Seater - Well, OK. It's not another new 'tandem bicycle' but it is a two-wheeled bike that seats two riders in tandem. Alas, my beloved CBR1100XX was done-in and damaged beyond economic repair in the process. In my search for a replacement ended up in what would best be characterized by the Monty-Python's Flying Circus schtick, "... and now for something completely different". The acquisition of the new-to-us bike is what took us to the Birmingham, Alabama area and Barbers last weekend, hence no Bulletin Board update.

"Burley Blows It" ... Out Through Costco - It's been all over the discussion forums and blogs this past week so if you're one of the three people who didn't hear, Burley recently made a business decision to liquidate it's 2008 trailer inventory through a sales agreement with Costco. Rather than rehashing the net traffic I'll let you read the very sanitary story that Bicycle Retailer & Industry News ran last weekend including it's interview with Burley CEO Michael Coughlin that you can find HERE.

Litespeed's Parent Company ABG Layoffs Reflect Economic Fallout - American Bicycle Group located near Chattanooga, TN, recently announced they were being forced to layoff 25% of their work force and vice president of sales Steve Boyd in response to the economic downturn. You can read the entire article at Bicycle Retailer & Industry News by clicking HERE.

Oh my Gosh! No More Arai Drum Brakes?! Yes, it's true... Production of Arai drum brakes has ended and all of the existing inventory has moved off of the wholesaler's shelves and onto the shelves of OEM builders like Santana and Co-Motion or retailers like Tandems East in Pittsgrove, New Jersey. So, should you be concerned? Probably not. First of all, there is a very small number of tandem teams who truly need a drum brake on their tandem and that number has been reduced by the introduction of reliable rear disc brakes. While discs don't offer the superior head capacity of drum brakes and can't be used like a drum brake, they give tandem teams who are on the fence and looking for some added piece of mind when faced with challenging descents who might have otherwise bought a drum brake. This alternative to drum brakes will likely allow the amble supply of new drum brakes being held by the OEMs and retailers to last through a couple years (as no long as folks don't hoard them). Moreover, I'm confident that the second-hand market supply of Arai drums will last for many years to come as, again, there were a lot of folks who bought Arai drums 'just in case' and then found they just didn't need them and put them in their parts boxes where they continue to gather dust. Finally, there is purportedly some new drum brake products in the development cycle that may be suitable for tandems in the future. Clearly, they will be more expensive since the development costs will need to be amortized and, well, they are low-demand products.

Tandem Folks in the Bloggosphere: Shelly Stern & Son of Charlottesville, VA - Shelly Stern is associated with the Charlottesville, Virginia-based Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation. This Blog entry provides a very nice overview and introduction to ACCT and notes that Shelly is leading by example through the use of a tandem bicycle as an alternative to automotive transportation. You can read the Blog item HERE and learn more about ACCT HERE.

Unicyclists Welcome Tandems & Single Speeders To Their Off-Road Championship - Quoting from the Mountain Bike News Website, "Global Biorhythms Events is happy to be hosting the 2009 Muni (Mountain Unicycle) Long Course World Championship in Northern California on October 10th, 2009. Concurrent with this race, the 2009 MTB Tandem World Championships and a MTB single speed will be held." Tandem participants will be limited to the first 75 teams who register. You can read more about the event HERE.

R&E Cycles' 1st Quarter Newsletter Is On The Web - Of note in the Jan-Feb '09 edition is the introduction of titanium tandems along with other custom frame offerings in the beloved and cushy material. Also covered in this edition are the following items as extracted from the R&E Newsletter Archive: "The Bike and Pike Expo!! - Rodriguez Titanium Frames are here - The new Rodriguez Shiftless frame ($800) - R+E announces a new $1,599 bicycle that's made right here in Seattle - John can't stop raving about his new Trillium Big Squeeze brakes - Watch your toes, or wind up on your nose (toe overlap)" You can download the current newsletter HERE and find the Newsletter archive HERE.

Tandem Folks in the News: John & Stacie Matthews of Bellingham, WA - Yet another intrepid tandem couple, John & Stacie Matthews of Bellingham, Washington, are about to embark on an epic journey from Bellingham, Washington to Ushuaia, Argentina. Read more about their epic journey plans HERE.

Why A Tandem is Better Than The Wii Fit - This is just a wonderful little blog article where "Miss Behavin' describes her initial experience with a Wii-Fit and contrasts that with the "relationship" she shares with her tandem. Just a fun and witty article that I suspect any Wii-fit owner might embrace as well as anyone else looking for a good, winter-time read that you can find HERE.

Tandem Folks in the Bloggosphere: Bob Brown - Good grief, seems like just about everyone has a blog these days!! I just discovered Bob Brown of Bob Brown Cycles' blog page. Bob is an accomplished tandem builder from fly-over country and you can find his blog HERE.

Another tandem couple in the news:

http://www.thenewstribune.com/soundlife/seniors/story/584979.html

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. The actual Links to the full stories, etc, that are the basis for my summaries are available here: http://www.thetandemlink.com.

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JANUARY 24th UPDATE (1,176)

Co-Motion Classic set for August 21st - 23rd at Eugene, OR - Co-Motion just announced their dates for the 8th annual Co-Motion Classic Tandem Stage Race (CCTR). As in past years, the event will be held in Co-Motion's home town of in Eugene, Oregon. You can read more about the event HERE and you'll also find a link embedded in their CCTR Blog entry from June 2008 that encourages folks to consider racing with their kids in the "C-Class".

Tandem Folks in the News: Maria Johnson & Steve Nichols of Hillworth Stores in Devizes, Whiltshire UK - The economic downturn is clearly a global happening given the globalization of banking, lending and production of consumer goods and services. The crunch has even hit Hillworth Stores of Devizes, Whiltshire. In an effort to generate some additional revenue for their convenience store, owners Maria Johnson and Steve Nichols have chosen to employ a tandem bicycle instead of additional staff. You can read their story HERE.

NBA Players Take To Tandem For Contest - In the Internet's never-ending pursuit of filling with web with mindless video content a site called "ibeatyou.com" sponsors all kinds of weird contests where competitors capture their best efforts on video and then submit it to the site. This is the story of one such competition that put Clippers' player Baron Davis and the Suns' Steve Nash on a really whippy tandem bicycle clad in garish attire as they done along the beach in Santa Monica. California. You can find the article HERE and a very short video clip HERE.

Southern Tandem Rally '09 Web Site Now On Line - This year's Southern Tandem Rally is being hosted out of the Villages near Ocala, Florida. Bob and Jan Thompson just let us know that their Web site is now up wherein you'll learn that registration will open up around April 1st. You can visit the Web site HERE.

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. The actual Links to the full stories, etc, that are the basis for my summaries are available here: http://www.thetandemlink.com.

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JANUARY 31st UPDATE (1,268)

Why Today's Bikes Have No Fenders - With perhaps the exception of the Pacific Northwest, it does seem that a tandem sporting fenders (aka, mud guards) is indeed a rare sight. A UK columnist, Philip Jackman, recently offered his assessment as to why so few bikes sold today come with those very practical fenders as part of his Collected Wisdom writings that you can find HERE. I've previously included the subject of "do you use fenders" in two polls over the past few years and there does seem as though about 23% - 33% of the enthusiast riders do, in fact, have and use fenders if only for those times when they are clearly called for. You can the results of a November '08 Poll conducted at the bikeforums.net website HERE and at Question #8 of another poll conducted in Jan-Feb '08 HERE.

Oregon Tandem Club & Bicycle Coalition Work To Provide Bikes To Needy Kids - Team Northwest Tandemonium (TNT) and the Washington County Bicycle Transportation Coalition have teamed up in an effort to provide 2nd - 5th grade needy children with 20" and 24" bicycles. You can read about their initiative HERE.

It's Probably Too Late But.... Registration for GTR Is Now Open - Registration for the 2009 edition of the Georgia Tandem Rally to be held in Athens, Georgia on May 22-24 officially opened at 11:00pm on January 30th. As noted in the Email notice that goes out to the 1,200 teams who have attended one of the past 10 GTRs, the event limited to 95 teams usually fills up in less than a week so unless you're REALLY, REALLY swift there's a good chance that as the average Joe & Jane Tandem Team y'all might not make it in. Anyway, without further fanfare, you can find out more about the rally HERE and you can download the registration application HERE. Note that the host hotel only has 20 rooms left but, fear not, there are plenty of other very nice accommodations near by.

Nick & Holly Need A Tandem To Ride From El Paso, TX to Vancouver, BC - Well, the starting and end points are approximations on my part but the need is genuine. I received the following note this past Friday wherein Nick outlined the ambitious journey and he and his fiance Holly have embarked upon. If you can help point them towards a potential 'ride' for their US leg that would be great.

My fiancé and I are currently on an around the world trip without using any aeroplanes. As part of this we tandemed from London to Spain and are hoping to also tandem from the US Mexico border to the US Canada border. As it is very costly to send our tandem out to the States we are looking for a tandem to either buy (and then sell) or borrow for this leg of the trip.

My fiancé is 5'4" and I am 6'1" and the ideal would be a touring set up with panniers/trailer, good brake system to deal with weight of camping gear and also suitable geometry for long rides. We will be coming into the US from Mexico mid April and will be looking to get one asap after that and will most likely look to be selling it somewhere in the North West or West Coast around 2.5 months later.

It would be great if you could drop a note in a news or classifieds section of the site. We are hoping that someone out there will have one we could use or buy, and also if people have any advice for places to see or rides to take in on the way it would be great to meet up with some fellow enthusiasts.

Here is a link to our website of the trip so far: http://www.3mphroundtheworld.com and also a link to the tandeming sections of the trip if these wanted to be featured. Hol and I are both keen writers and so we'd be more than happy to provide any reports, reviews, photos of the trip if you wanted them for the site as well.

Portsmouth Cathedral's Dean and Chorister Arrive For Services ala Tandem - Yet another sign of the current push for Green alternatives, a news article popped up this week out of Portsmouth where the local Cathedral has installed bike racks in its efforts to encourage staff and visitors to ride their bicycles to work and services. As noted in the article, the Dean of Portsmouth Cathedral and a chorister marked the occasion by arriving on a tandem bicycle. You can read the entire article HERE.

Crank2 Performance Tandems To Host Valentines Day Tandem Rally - The 2nd-only and newest brick & mortar tandem speciality shop that we know of, Crank2 Performance located in Pleasonton, California, will be hosting a special tandem event in conjunction with the City of Santa Cruz and Stage 2 of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California called '2 Wheels for 2 Hearts Tandem Rally' on Feb 14 - 15. You can read more about the event at Co-Motion's Blog entry (which is where I discovered it) or at Crank2's website. It sounds like it will be a great ride and a great event. Too bad we're about 3,000 miles away.

Want to Sneak a Peek Into Bob Brown's Workshop? - Bob Brown's latest Blog update includes three little snippets about some projects he has in work that include a disc brake installation on a Co-Motion tandem using a Brake Therapy adapter, the addition of S&S couplers to a VooDoo 29" single bike, and a very custom-looking tandem that's in very raw form. Take a peek HERE.

Northwest Tandem Racing Website Now Up! - Good friend and fellow tandem geek Henry Able wrote to let us know he's just put the finishing touches on his new tandem cycle racing website, http://nwtandemracing.com. The site will no doubt prove to be an invaluable resource for tandem teams who are interested in competing in on or off-road tandem events in the Oregon, Washington & Northern California area. You will note that there is a healthy amount of WebCyclery adverts on the page which ain't necessarily a bad thing as they often times have pretty good deals on tandem frames and components and, well, they also employ Henry's services, hence the close relationship. Anyway, if interested take a look HERE.

Note: For those who don't know, another good friend, David Hunter, created the Atlantic Seaboard Tandem Racing Organization (ASTRO) discussion forum at YahooGroups back on June 13, 2000. ASTRO is yet another resource where competitive tandem teams can share information regarding tandem racing and events. You can find the ASTRO forum by clicking HERE.

HUNTING ISLAND/SEA ISLAND ROTARY BIATHLON: What: Adventure Biathlon; Where: Hunting Island State Park; When: March 7, race at 1:30 p.m., registration at 11 a.m.; Cost: $40 per person or $55 per team ($10 late fee after Feb. 28 or on race day); Registration: Register online at active.com, or make checks payable to Sea Island Rotary Club and send to The Extra Mile, 336 King Street, Charleston, SC 29401; Notes: Course is approx. 6-mile paddle from lagoon to Fripp Inlet and back, and 4.5-mile trail run; Tandem and relay teams allowed; Awards and post-race party. Information:Call Higher Ground at 379-GEAR (4327) or Extra Mile at 853-9987,or go to www.HigherGroundoftheLowCountry.com or www.TheExtraMileInc.com.

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. The actual Links to the full stories, etc, that are the basis for my summaries are available here: http://www.thetandemlink.com.

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FEBRUARY 5th UPDATE (1,344)


We've Mooo'ved Our Web Hosting to FatCow.com - Hopefully this will be a seamless transition, but in the event you should notice something is missing or not working correctly here at the thetandemlink.com or your Emails start bouncing please be aware that as of February 6 our domain hosting moved over to www.fatcow.com's servers. The URLs and our xxxx@xxxxxx.com Email addresses are still the same; however, if you do find problems please send an Email to me at my ISP account: xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.net. Finally, if you read this entry at Hobbes or Bikeforums.net and then don't see this entry or the February 6th Update at the top of the Bulletin Board when you visit our site, you'll need to clear your browser's cache and may even need to restart your application and/or reboot your computer. If none of that works you can use this link: http://www.thetandemlink.fatcow.com/.

25 Years of Santa Cruz Bicycle Design & Innovation Opens Today! - An exhibit that celebrates the contribution Santa Cruz-based bicycle designers have made over the past 25 years opened today at the Museum of Art & History at the McPherson Center in Santa Cruz. Friend and builder Craig Calfee's work along with exhibits that look at Specialized, Giro and Santa Cruz will be on display. Be sure to give it a look-see if you're headed to Santa Cruz for next weekend's Stage 2 of the Amgen Tour of California and read more about the exhibit HERE.

Georgia Tandem Rally Sold-Out in 2 Days - In case you thought we were kidding with last week's entry, the Georgia Tandem Rally filled all 97 team slots in just two days this year. In other words, if a team didn't use an overnight / Express Mail service they ended up on the waiting list. However, that said, nearly 1/3 of the rally registrants are first-timers. Anyway, for future planning purposes you can learn more about GTR at their Web site:http://www.georgiatandemrally.com/register.html

Le Ghana se lance dans la production de vélos en bambou - Le vélo en bambou imaginé par un designer américain espère demain conquérir des clients dans le monde entier. Cela changerait la vie de ceux qui, au Ghana, produisent cette bicyclette. Ok, if you don't speak French this summary introduces a new video news story from Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Craig Calfee's Bamboo Bicycle Project in Ghana. The original video link provided by Yahoo France News is no longer valid so please use THIS LINK instead. You can also find additional links to archived news reports and videos at Calfee Design's Web site by clicking HERE.

The Geek's Weekly Poppourri of Bloggishness

Down and Out In Atlanta Georgia; 50-year Streak Comes To An End - Well, after somehow avoiding any serious bone breaks for 50 years, this week I managed to turn my left ankle in an awkward enough manner to fracture the end of my Fibula where it comes together at the ankle with the Tibia and Talis bones. So, the prognosis is... I will be more grumpy than usual, a lot more grumpy. No weight bearing in an Aircast for at least 3 weeks followed by 3-5 weeks in a walking cast before I can pedal a bicycle with both legs or ride my motorcycle (the latter are what keep me sane), never mind attending to the house and yard. Moreover, I might as well get in a little Cycle-Smithing by noting how poor our cycling form will be throughout the rest of the year. The only possible upside is the discovery of a new-fangled, hands-free 'crutch' called the iWalkFree that I"ll be picking up tomorrow which -- if it works as advertised -- will at least give me back some basic mobility + use of my hands. We'll see....

Wish you quick recovery with the busted bones, Mark.
Rudy's bone breakage did not start 'til in his 70s . . . see what you got to look forward to?
Growin' old is not for sissies!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Growin' old is not for sissies!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

That's for sure! Broke my first bone at about 42. Second at 49, both in the feet! I wish you a speedy recovery. At least there is plenty of "writin' time", I know you will look forward again to the "ridin" time.

Brian

TG ..sorry for the down time you're facing...you made it a lot farther than I did by about ten years...my good run ended on a motorcycle - came up short on a triple and eventually gave up MX but not breaking bones.....hope your's stops right here and that it mends real strong..best wishes.
Bill J

My experience with this sort of injury is that I can ride before I can walk - that is, if I'm gentle, I can ride without pain before I can walk without pain. But dig up some toe clips, 'cause cleating and uncleating with a healing ankle is just a bad idea.

Sorry to hear about the fibula. Hope it heals quick.

PK

TG, wish you a speedy recovery.

Note: Thanks to all for the well-wishes on and off-list.


The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. The actual Links to the full stories, etc, that are the basis for my summaries are available here: http://www.thetandemlink.com.

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FEBRUARY 14th UPDATE (1,509)

Where'd The Links To Industry News & Georgia Resources Go? - For anyone who may have found the collection of links that previously occupied the top spot of the Bulletin Board, fear not... It's not gone. It's simply been relocated to the bottom of the Bulletin Board. In fact, you can jump there by clicking on the following snapshot of the image map.



Did You Notice Our URL Icon?- Like so many other Web sites, www.thetandemlink.com now has it's own URL Icon. Although I'm not positive, aside from vanity I believe the main reason these little Icons were created was to make it easier to find or differentiate shortcuts in most browser's Favorites or Bookmark lists and browser History drop-downs. Anyway, there you go... Just look for TL = Tandem Link.



Tandem Folks in the News: Kris Van Metter & Joy Baynes of Takoma, MD - Kris and Joy became engaged back in November and are looking forward to a June wedding and -- you gotta love this --after Kris popped the question the bride-to-be asked for a mountain tandem bike instead of an engagement right. You can read their entire story HERE.

The Ubiquitous Valentines Day Tandem Bicycle Article - Yes, it's Valentines Day and as sure as the sun will rise each day, you'll find plenty of articles about tandems. You can find a pretty nice one from south Florida with several anecdotes and recommendations from local tandem enthusiasts HERE. You can find another one HERE from Virginia / Maryland.

1952 Schwinn Black Phantom Tandem Goes for $8,000 at Auction - Even in these hard economic times, there are still a lot of collectors with the resources to pursue their respective hobbies. Case in point, a 1952 Schwinn Black Phantom Tandem that sold for just a little over $8,000 at a recent auction in Florida. You can see how it stacked up against a large collection of Schwinn Stingrays and, well, a whole lot of cars HERE. The same tandem was mentioned in an interesting article about the recently discovered 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante that sold for an amazing $4.4-million last weekend in Paris that you can read about HERE.

Thumbs-Up To The Santa Clarita Century Organizers: Tandem Discount! - The Santa Clarita Century's host club, Santa Clarita Velo, earns a big thumbs-up from TheTandemLink.com for offering special pricing for tandem teams. It's self-serving, but I've always been of the opinion that offering special discounts for tandems has been a win-win for event organizers and tandem enthusiasts. The organizers are able to attract a few more cyclists and the associated revenue for their event who might not otherwise attend, and tandem cyclists are able to participate in events that might otherwise be cost prohibitive. Learn more about the Feb 28th Santa Clarita Century HERE.

Tandem Club UK Stands Up NEW URLs For South East London & Kent - Good friend Neville Frost , Webmaster for Tandem Club UK, wrote to let us know the South East London and Kent Regions now have 'proper' URLs of their own.

Tandem Club - South East London is now: - http://www.tandemclub-southeastlondon.org.uk
Tandem Club - Kent is now http://www.tandemclub-kent.org.uk

The Tandem Club UK links page here at www.thetandemlink.com has been updated with these new links as well. You can visit it by clicking HERE, by clicking on the UK Union Flag in the masthead that appears at the top of every page on our site.


The Geek's Weekly Poppourri of Bloggishness

I figure since blogs have become so darn popular I'd go ahead an add my own poppourri of mindless ramblings to my weekly news snippets... at least until I grow bored of it

Last week you may recall that I reported a fractured fibula. The ONLY upside to the whole episode has been the hands-free crutch (aka. the iWalkFree) which it turns out has been a life-saver, or at least a mobility restorer that allows me to do just about everything I normally do other than riding a bicycle or motorcycle. The only downside to the iWalkFree is telling folks what it is and how it works as it never fails to draw attention. As even the inventor Lance Matthews noted in an recent Email exchange, even he was amazed that no one had ever patented something like his hands-free crutch for lower leg injuries decades ago. It will be interested to see what the folks at the Ortho clinic have to say when I come strolling in for my 3 week check-up near the end of the month.

In other matters, several astute observers / motorcycle enthusiasts took note that I neglected to mention what type of motorcycle it was that replaced my beloved CBR1100XX (aka. SuperBlackbird) after the December 8th 'bird strike' back in my January 17th item entitled Yours Truly Bags A New Two-Seater . There was a teaser thumbnail that showed the new to us bike sitting in the www.MTBTandems.com trailer that Alex Nutt of MTBTandems so graciously allowed me to borrow, but that was it. So, for those folks who follow my Bulletin Board and who are also motorcycle enthusiasts, at left is the CBR1100XX that had carried me back and forth to work for the past 8 years & 36,000 miles and at right is the 2003 BMW R1100S Boxer Cup Replika that has taken its place. Alas, the bimmer now sits on a pair of pit stands until April when I'm once again able to use my lower left leg. You can find a photo gallery of the new bike HERE or by clicking on its photo.

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. The actual Links to the full stories, etc, that are the basis for my summaries are available here: http://www.thetandemlink.com.

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FEBRUARY 21st UPDATE (1,592)

Tandem Folks in the News: Dick and Susan Rogers of Redlands, CA - Dick and Susan are set to begin their 3,400 mile, 67-day transcontinental tandem trip to raise donations for the non-profit Mustard Seed Tutorial Center in Redlands, California. This will be the couple's second transcontinental and you can read the whole story and find the URL to track their progress HERE. Trivia Time: Your faithful correspondent once lived in Redlands during the late 80's before moving to Georgia in '91.

Tandem Folks in the News: Sean McCann & Peter Banks of the UK - Young cancer survivor Sean McCann and his friend Peter Banks plan to travel some 2,000 miles from Cambridge, England to Rome, Italy on a tandem bicycle. Their goal is to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust's East Anglia Appeal and you can read more about the pair and find a links to the charity HERE.

A Co-Motion / Gates Carbon Drive Update - Good friend and fellow tandem geek Henry Able out in Oregon has posted two recent updates to the Webcyclery Tandem Belt Drive / Co-Motion Gates Carbon Drive Impressions page. They offer some first hand feedback on life with the belt after several hundred miles with an eye on tension adjustments and cleaning. You can read his Feb 4 and Feb 19 updates HERE.

Charles Manantan of Pez Cycling News on Topolino Wheels - Warning: If you're easily offended by off-color language you might want to pass on reading this article. Charles writes the way most bike-geeks talk and the occasional S-word or a contraction of the F bomb make appearances. OK, with that out of the way, Charles is a pretty big fan of the Topolino wheels and this is at least his 2nd article on the carbon/kevlar spoked, super-lightweight wheels. The tandem connection here is that Topolino makes a Carbon Core series wheelset for tandems -- the AX3.0T -- and since we own a set that have seen a few miles I would have to say most of what Charles observes is also true of the tandem version. Mind you, these are expensive, hand- made, lightweight wheels and as such are best acquired as a second set of wheels. Hey, s--t happens, but if it does the support from Topolino has been excellent. You can read the entire Pez article HERE.

Boost Mobile "Unwronged": I'm Really Getting Old - Boost Mobile telecommunications has launched a series of commercials where bizarre and unlikely 'human errors in judgment" are placed in front of viewers as a metaphor for the surprise many cell phone customers get when they're hit with hidden fees. Yeah, whatever... One of the commercials uses what appears to be an old creaky tandem with ape- hanger bars where the young girl piloting the bike with a sleeveless shirt has been given three feet of flowing red armpit hair that is, well, annoying to her male stoker to the make point that "this is just wrong" and so are annoying, hidden cell phone fees. Clearly, I'm not the target audience but perhaps someone you know is, so here's a LINK to a blog that has captured the commercial.

Free Speech & The Right To Be An Idiot - This one is not tandem-specific and really needs no explanation, but it underscores how short-sighted people can be. In short, there's a punk band in Florida called 'this bike is a pipe bomb' and at least twice now cyclists have put stickers with the band's name on their bikes and left them parked in public places unattended, like chained in front of an airport terminal. You can read more about it and see a photo of a bike with one of the stickers HERE.

Home Made Tandem: Future Darwin Award & Liability - If you thought some of the tandems sold on Ebay for $200 are unsafe due to substandard brakes and what not, this should pin your ears back a bit. I seem to recall having friends who did this when I was a kid and it was a death-trap / accident waiting to happen. However, in the internet age just about anything can be posted to the net so that others can admire, emulate or in my case criticize and such is the case with the kid's home-made tandem you'll find HERE. Hardly original, but certainly not something for which you'd want to provide how-to-instructions. Anyone who has a serious interest in homebuilding a tandem should, instead, learn how to weld OR employ the assistance of a certified welder and follow the instructions that can be found on the late Sheldon Brown's Website HERE.

Tandem Folks in the Bloggosphere: Becky - In her 'Cruisin' with Cricket Blog, Becky recounts the important role that tandem bicycles have played in her life as a degenerative eye disease moved her from car driver to tandem pilot, then to tandem stoker. It's an excellent retrospective that worth a read to just about anyone who is or knows someone who may be facing a similar challenge. You can read the entry HERE.

Tandem Folks in the News: Bob and Cindy Neidinger of St. Joseph, MO - An article entitled "Ready to Ride" that pitches cycling as a great way to get a workout and see the world introduces us to St. Joseph Bicycle Club members Bob & Cindy Neidinger. You can find the article HERE.

Tandem Folks in the News: Stu Thomas & Mayor Peter Chin of Dunedin, NZ - Dunedin, New Zealand held its Bike Wise Mayoral Challenge on the Ravensbourne cycle way last weekend and caught on camera leading the riders was Stu Thomas captaining Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin. You can see the photo of his honor and read the article about the event HERE.

ABC Brisbane Personalities Go On A Tandem Adventure - ABC Brisbane's morning show host, Rebecca Levinston and producer Chris Welsh hopped on a tandem bicycle to show how commuters might be able to get from point A to point B in the event of a rail strike. Thankfully, there was no strike but you can find their story, some photos and an audio link that recounts the journey HERE.

Note: The Geek's Weekly Potpourri of Bloggishness can be found on my site; no sense in posting that drivel here.

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. The actual Links to the full stories, etc, that are the basis for my summaries are available here: http://www.thetandemlink.com.

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FEBRUARY 28th UPDATE (1,660)

Want to know where the Stimulus $$ Might Be Going? Long-time, good friend Hank passed a long a pretty slick Website URL that allows you to search a data base of potential spending stimulus projects. It's pretty interesting to see how funds could be used in our area. Just searching on "bike" and "bicycle" I was able to find 240 projects totaling about $863,395,288 allocated to 33 different states. For perspective, that's about 0.11% of the $787B stimulus package. I've also extracted the bike & bicycle-related items into a spreadsheet that can be sorted or filtered and you can find a copy of that HERE or you can find the Stimuluswatch.org Website HERE.


Note: Be sure to read the disclaimers and FAQs regarding this any any other site related to stimulus spending, e.g., from StimulusWatch.org:

"StimulusWatch.org was built to help the new administration keep its pledge to invest stimulus money smartly, and to hold public officials to account for the taxpayer money they spend. We do this by allowing you, citizens around the country with local knowledge about the proposed "shovel-ready" projects in your city, to find, discuss and rate those projects. These projects are not part of the stimulus bill. They are candidates for funding by federal grant programs once the bill passes. Learn more by reading the FAQs."

FAQ Example: "The data on this site comes from the U.S. Conference of Mayors' MainStreet Economic Recovery Report. If a city did not include its "shovel-ready" projects on that list, you won't find it here. However, this does not mean that cities that are not included here do not have projects they'd like to see funded. Once the stimulus bill passes, cites will make requests for federal grants, and we will likely see grants to projects not listed on this site."

North American Handmade Bicycle Show @ Indianapolis, IN on Feb 27 - Mar 1: If you love bicycles and live any where near Indianapolis, IN, you owe it to yourself to attend this year's North American Handmade Bicycle Show. This is a show for anyone who appreciates or wants to learn more about the art of hand-made bicycle frames and to see some of the most amazing bicycles you've ever seen as some 100 artisans gather to show and discuss their craft. You can find all kinds of great articles and find photos at the NAHBS Website HERE. Attendance at Friday's show was 1,700, far exceeding last year's 1,230 or so at Portland, OR. For those who can't make it to the show, be sure to search out some of the coverage and photos that will pop-up on the Web over the next several days, like the ones you'll find at Urban Velo's Web site HERE, HERE and HERE

Interested in Being A Tandem Pilot For Sight Impaired Stokers? The United States Association of Blind Athletes (USABA) is working in partnership with the Blind Center Veterans Administration Hospital in Palo Alto to match up local tandem owners from the South Bay area with sight impaired vets. You can read more about the program and find contact information in this article posted HERE.

What Comes To Mind When You Hear "Custom Paint Job?" - One of the joys of having a love-affair with bicycles is taking the time and investing a few bucks (or sweat equity for those with the skills) to differentiate your machine from all of the others in the world. As it is with all other wheeled vehicles, a custom paint scheme is certainly a great way to do that. Of course, custom paint is a fairly wide-open field, ranging from simply picking a special color, specifying a multi-color or fade paint scheme, or in the case of a Co-Motion Roadster recently delivered by Jim's Bicycle Shop in Cincinnati, Ohio.... it could be a tandem where the front half was painted to mimic a Holstein cow while the back is covered with a field of sunflowers. You can see a photo of this eye-catching machine HERE.

Iowa Considers New Law To Protect Cyclists - While some states have adopted 3-foot laws in an effort to protect cyclists from passing motorists, Iowa's Senate pass a new bill this week by a vote of 30-17 that mandates a 5-foot clear zone and other provisions. The bill is now in the House for consideration. You can read more about it HERE.

No Job To Big - OK, this is yet another entry that's not specific to tandems but that may be of interest to tandem enthusiasts since getting a proper fit for non-standard sized teams is often times a challenge. You can find a nice little article on Co-Motion's Blog about one of their customers, a 7' tall, 325 gentleman HERE.

Tandem Folks in the News: David & Marcia Sykuta of Springfield, IL - David & Marcia are recumbent tandem enthusiasts who live and ride throughout the Midwest. They are now working with other cycling enthusiasts in their community to develop a permanent bicycle advisory group for their community. You can read about their efforts HERE.

Redlands Rotary Ride Offers Tandem-Friendly Pricing! WooHoo, yet another event where the organizers are reaching out to families by offering discounted registration rates for tandems as well as a family pack. This year's Redlands Rotary Ride in Redlands, California will be held on March 28th in conjunction with what will be the 25th running of the Redlands Bike Classic, California's oldest professional stage race. You can read the short article in the Redlands Daily Facts HERE, visit the Redlands Rotary Ride website HERE, and learn more about the Redlands Classic HERE.

Tandems and Weddings: A Classic - While there are all kinds of stories about couples who have incorporated tandem bicycles into their wedding plans, I believe this may be the first time I've ever seen a couple ride a tandem into their indoor wedding reception as the MC introduces the new couple to their guests! Just plain fun and you can find the video HERE.

Tandem Club of America Continues Its Slide Into Obscurity - I received my 2009 TCA Membership Roster and, as I have done for the last six years, I thought I'd share a quick look at the Tandem Club of America's (TCA) demographics. As always, my hand-tabulated counts from the membership listing were entered into my spreadsheets and looked at on a state-by-state basis as in comparison to data from last year's Membership Roster and, where noted, to the first analysis I conducted back in 2002. You can find my highly unscientific analysis HERE.

In summary, and based on what was published in this year's 2009 Membership List, TCA membership at approx 914 is down about 9% compared to last year, with a net reduction of 92 members. In fact, the drop-off in 2008 is nearly the same as last year where we saw a net reduction of 91 members.

Looking back and comparing membership to 2002 when I first started following the data, overall TCA membership has fallen by 543 or about 37%: States like Texas have dropped dramatically from 71 members in 2002 to just 37 in this year's Membership roster.California has gone from a very healthy 111 members in 2002 to 68 members this year.Florida and New York have also seen quite a drop-off in membership during the past year.

Editorial: Given there have been almost no changes in TCA staff, sans the folks who maintain the membership and hospitality homes lists up to date, and that there have been no changes in the way that TCA promotes itself or the services / value it offers membership, there is no reason to believe the net downward trend or the short-lived new membership trends will be reversed. TCA continues to cling to a model for enthusiast clubs that has not changed in over a decade and only survives because of long-term membership loyalty which, frankly, may also be tested in the next year. After all, even the nominal $15 membership fee may start to look excessive in terms of the value it delivers as members re-evaluate their household budgets and expenditures.

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. The actual Links to the full stories, etc, that are the basis for my summaries are available here: http://www.thetandemlink.com.

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MARCH 7th UPDATE (1,742)


It's Open House Season At Tandem Dealers - If you've been thinking about tandems and wanted to learn more, see some hardware and perhaps take some meaningful test rides, now's the time to do it. Unfortunately, tandem speciality dealers are far and few between and only a couple put forth the effort to host these events and, in that regard, it's the folks who live within a few hours of Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., who are best served:


March 22 - Mt Airy Spring Demo Days (MD) - Larry Black at Mt. Airy Cyclery in Maryland will host his 18th annual Spring Demo Day featuring bicycle rides, food, displays, demos, and fun. There will be group rides, recumbent and tandem bikes on display and available to test ride, special needs equipment, local cycling club members on hand to offer tips, and plenty of food. Although a bit thin on details compared to their newsletter, you can find more details at their Website HERE.


March 28 & 29 - Tandems East / Tandem Expo (NJ): A must-do event with guest speakers from Co-Motion (Dwan Shepard), Rolf Wheels (Rolf Deitrich), daVinci (Brian Davis), Seven Cycles (Joe Wignall), Cane Creek (Eric Smith), Your Cycling Italia (Bill Speckman) and master personal trainer Jeff Baker from Vineland, NJ. As always, your host and co-owner of Tandems East, Mel Kornbluh, will kick things off with his Tandeming 101. Oh yeah, and there will also be more tandems on display than you'll ever see in one place short of a very large tandem rally, refreshments and test rides are encouraged. You can read my post-expo report from last year at this URL and find more details regarding the Expo at Tandem East's Website HERE.

Friends Don't Let Friends Ride Alone - Here's a great story out of Tucson, Arizona that speaks volumes about the value of true friendship and how, once again, a tandem can have a tremendous impact on someone's life. You'll find the story entitled Quite a ride with compassionate friends HERE.

Canadian Triathletes Undeterred by Sight Impairment - The Blind Guys Tri Team is made up of 30 Canadians who range in age from 16 to 66 with varying degrees of sight impairment. While training in competing in triathlons is hard enough -- with or without sight impairment -- finding 30 tandem bicycles was yet another challenge this team had to meet. You can read their story HERE.

NWTandemRacing.com Makes VeloNews - Regular readers may recall an early item here at thetandemlink.com regarding Henry Abel's new tandem bicycle racing website, NWTandemRacing.com. Well, word keeps getting around and Henry got a HUGE boost in exposure on March 3 when VeloNews ran a comprehensive article on the site. You can find it HERE.

North American Handmade Bicycle Show Winners! - CyclingNews ran a very comprehensive series of articles on the NAHBS held in Indianapolis, IN back on Feb 27 - Mar 1 and in Part 3 focused on the winners of the "Best ____" awards. Taking top honors for the tandems was Stephen Bilenky's lugged homage to the Jack Taylor tandems of years gone by; resplendent in its deep red and cream colors. The CyclingNews Gallery can be found HERE and the tandem gallery from the NAHBS show is HERE. However, there was actually a second best tandem, but this one stole the Best Titanium Bike category. Kent Eriksen's coupled somehow eluded a few cameras but some diligent searching by yours truly has uncovered a few photos HERE and HERE.

Tandem Folks in the News: Michael Armstrong, Portland OR - Michael Armstrong manages the City of Portland, Oregon's climate protection agency but, more importantly, he's a tandem enthusiast of the first order. He's also one of this year's Alice B. Toeclip Award nominees. You can read about and see photos of Michael and his family HERE.

Big Ass Chard from Adler Fels Winery - I've got to give credit where credit is due to Gary Koenig whose column is carried by the Denver Examiner for this discovery... and it's a Big Ass find, literally. Adler Fels Winery apparently has a brand called Big Ass wines -- full-bodied, robust, soft, warm California wines -- that features some brilliant labels. Their Big Ass Chard (as in Chardonnay) label makes this the ideal gift for your next social, off-bike dinner party with your tandeming friends. We'll have to see if it's carried locally as the only thing we can buy direct from Adler Fels is the poster as direct alcohol sales are a no-no to Georgia residents.

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. The actual Links to the full stories, etc, that are the basis for my summaries are available here: http://www.thetandemlink.com.

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MARCH 14th UPDATE (1,838)

Registration Opens for Tennessee Tandem Rally on Monday, March 16 - Albeit a bit later than usual, registration for the Tennessee Tandem Rally will officially open on March 16th (EST) with the posting of the downloadable registration form to the TTR Website which you can find HERE (http://thetandemlink.com/TTR.html). As in past years, attendance will be limited to 50 teams. GTR sold out in about a week or so this year, once you factor in the pre-registration window with open registration for the balance of the remaining slots filled in about 2 days.

Bamboosero Bikes Now A Reality - Craig Calfee recently launched a new enterprise called Bamboosera Bikes to advance the production of bamboo bicycles in places of Ghana and anywhere else where inexpensive, easy to assembly transportation can improve peoples lives through both industry and the movement of people and commerce. Check it out HERE.

Tandem Folks in the Bloggosphere: Seth & Kathy Krieger, FLA - Seth and Kathy are tandem enthusiasts who are doing a cross country tour on the installment plan. You can learn more about them on their blog which you can find HERE.

Dancing Bear Bicycle Bash, April 3-5 Townsend, TN - Matt Alexander and Tennessee Tandem Rally gluttons for punishment Tim & Sharon Patterson have teamed up once again to put on a posh weekend of cycling in Townsend, Tennessee, Gateway to the Smokey Mountains National Park. You can read a great article about the weekend HERE or check out their Website HERE.

Celeb Matt Damon = Ace Stoker? Yup, fellow tandem-geek Henry Able forward a link to a SkyNews article where Matt Damon took out from filing in South Africa to participate in a 110k cycling event call the Cape Argus Cycle Tour to raise money for the Make a Difference Charity. You can read more about it and see photos of Damon stoking for his brother HERE.

MTB Tandem World Championship @ Cool, California, Oct '09 - I think we may have already posted an item on this new event but it bears repeating because it's, well, pretty cool. The event will be held in conjunction with the Mountain Unicycle and Single Speed Championships in NorCal the weekend of October 9-10, offer cash prizes for for the Co-Ed Class, and also provide awards and prizes for Male & Female teams as well. You can learn more about it HERE.

How Tandem Cycling Changes Lives - It's no secret that a tandem can allow people to cycle who might not otherwise be able to ride due to various handicaps. Here's one story about just such a person, Peter Quaiattini of Calgary who has been sight impaired his entire life and a tandem enthusiast since age 8. More importantly, it was though tandem cycling that he met his wife who was a volunteer tandem pilot with the Trailblazers Tandem Cycling Club in Toronto. You can read his entire story HERE.

HEY! That's a photo of US?! - The internet is a strange place in that every now and again a digital image of you hosted on someone's public photo album will show up in someone's Blog, personal website, discussion forum or even a commercial site... and often times in violation of copyright laws, i.e., without the permission of the photo's owner or a model release from the subjects of the photos. Sometimes it's harmless, sometimes it's not but it's always a bit disconcerting when you first make the discovery. Such a discovery occurred this week when a Bicycle Radar posting about a bike shop in the UK used a photo of some friends in just such a way. I first saw it in my daily search engine feed and shortly thereafter saw a posting on Facebook from a friend and one of the subjects in the photo who was equally surprised when they became cycling icons in the UK. Thankfully, it was a nice photo used in a positive vane; however, it's still a no-no given the commercial nature of the site and business being promoted.

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. The actual Links to the full stories, etc, that are the basis for my summaries are available here: http://www.thetandemlink.com.

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MARCH 21st UPDATE (1,942)

REMINDER!!! It's Open House Season


SUNDAY March 22 - Mt Airy Spring Demo Days (MD)

SATURDAY & SUNDAY March 28 & 29 - Tandems East / Tandem Expo (NJ)


Tandems East Introduces Hokitika - Tandems East is introducing its own house-branded line of tandems to fill the gap left when Burley Design began to implode a few years back now.From the TandemsEast.com website, "With the departure of Burley Design Coop Tandems in 2006 a void was left in the steel tandem marketplace for tandems in the $2000 - $3000 price range. We believe the Hokitika 2-BE-ONE fills this void. A good quality American made tandem for the first time tandem buyers." You can find additional details HERE.

MTBTandems Introduces US-Made Twenty-Niner - Good friend and mountain tandem bike empesario Alex Nutt of MTBTandems.com in Canton, Georgia, has been associated with Sherwood Gibson of Ventana USA for several years as one of Ventana's top tandem dealers. Along the way, Alex has become a big fan of 29" wheeled hardtail bikes and recently collaborated with Ventana to bring design & fabrication of MTBTandems' Fandango branded frames back to the US with their new 29" hardtail model. You can find additional details and pricing HERE. CLICK on the thumbnail photo to see a high-res photo of the first production model.

Dave Porter Turns His Attention Back To Tandems & Cycling - Before moving into classic automotive car restoration Dave Porter made some very exciting frames including a national record-setting track tandem. Dave recently decided to see if he couldn't replicate his success and has embarked on a new track tandem project that you can read about HERE. His Tandem Project web page is quite comprehensive in that it takes you back to the late 80's and gives you the back story on his first tandem, through the entire frame fabrication process of the new tandem and as of yesterday reports on the maiden test ride. Pretty exciting stuff for the geeks among you. Sponsorship Opportunities: As a self-funded project, Dave would welcome offers of sponsorship and/or donations from component manufactures or enthusiasts for the planned Tandem Hour Record attempt in Colorado Springs later this year. The riders are to be John Frey (50) a former amateur Hour record holder and Josh Reddoch.

Sebring Tandem Rally (Florida) Canceled - We learned through frequent T@H & BF contributor Bill Cotney that the 2009 edition of the annual Sebring Tandem Rally was canceled. Some of the regulars may still gather for unsupported group rides from the Kenilworth on April 4th and 5th.

Covered Bridges Tandem Weekend (Ohio) - Doug Crush recently wrote to let us know he will once again host the Covered Bridges Tandem Weekend on September 12 and 13 in Northeast Ohio. No website but you can download the information sheet HERE.

Co-Motion Offering Topolino Wheel Option on Racing Tandems - Co-Motion recently announced that it would begin to offer the Topolino AX3.0T tandem-specific wheelset as an upgrade option on its race-level Robusta, Supremo & Macchiato tandems. Although pricing wasn't posted to their Web site just yet, I suspect the up charge would be a a couple hundred dollars as the Topolino wheelset MSRP is about $400 more than the Rolf Prima-Vigor tandem model that they would replace. The added cost nets buyers a set of wheels that are 300 grams lighter than the already fairly light Rolf's and what I would characterize as a much more plush ride based on our past year's experience riding both the Topolino AX3.0Ts and Rolf's on our personal tandems.


Editorial: We thoroughly enjoy and appreciate the performance and ride qualities of our Topolino and Rolf wheels -- they look awesome too -- and would encourage anyone looking for these types of wheels to consider putting a set on their tandem. Just recognize that beyond the marketing there is reality. In this regard, the caveat I would apply to folks who are interested in high-end racing wheels but who will use them for daily use and training is, if you ride them every day they're no longer 'racing' wheels in that any performance benefit they might offer on race day will be lost since, well, that benefit will have been assimilated into your daily riding effort. Additionally, high-end racing wheels from folks at Rolf, Topolino, Bontrager and Shimano-Santana are expensive to buy, expensive to repair and must be returned to the manufacturer or an authorized dealer in most cases for any type of service. Therefore, hitting a pot hole on a recreational ride where a conventional set of wheels would have been more than adequate and appropriate can become a costly experience and put you off your tandem for a week or so UNLESS you happen to have that second set of conventional wheels as a back-up. Just some food for thought. We have a lovely set of White Ind / Velocity Deep-V wheels as well... Just in case.

A visit to Calfee Design - Ben Marks recently took a tour of the Calfee facility at LaSelva Beach, California. You can read the article HERE and see a slide show where you'll find Craig in his jumpsuit hard at work on a tandem, underscoring that you're as likely to find Craig in the shop working on YOUR tandem (e.g., he's had his hands on ours a couple times), teaching folks how to build tandems in Ghana, visiting bamboo suppliers in Taiwan or meeting with consumers at the NAHBS or other shows around the world: Yes, I think quite highly of Craig. Now, speaking of Calfee the business, one of the things you'll read in Ben's article speaks volumes about Calfee and the depth of their expertise with composites, "Much of the activity revolves around the arrival of as many as half a dozen broken carbon frames per day. In fact, Calfee has quite a good side business going repairing the frames of its competitors. The fact that so many cyclists look to Calfee Design to get the job done right should tell you something." Like I said, this speaks volumes about Calfee.

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. The actual Links to the full stories, etc, that are the basis for my summaries are available here: http://www.thetandemlink.com.

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MARCH 21st UPDATE (2,041)

Slow news week.... so, now for something completely different!


The Much Anticipated & Final Installment of My Calfee Journal Has Been Published! (http://www.thetandemlink.com/calfee_tandem_12.html)- At long last, I finally found a weekend where the combination of my immobility coupled with horrid weather and a lack of other tandem news left me with idle fingers to tap upon my keyboard. Hard to believe it's been 7 months since my penultimate update was published back on August 12; however, be that as it may... you can now find my final thoughs and impressions regarding what is now our year-old Calfee Tetra travel tandem, high-end tandems in general and some additional details on disc brake installation, touring gear and my flitation with exotic wheelsets HERE (http://www.thetandemlink.com/calfee_tandem_12.html).


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Bicycle Quarterly; Oh The Joy - As mentioned late last year, I gave myself a Christmas gift of a Vintage Bicycle Quarterly library, inclusive of all back issues, a current subscription and both Jan Heine's The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles and his latest book, The Competition Bicycle A Photographic History. Today, the Spring 2009 issue arrived and as always it was chock-full of interesting articles and wonderful images, to include the ubiquitous presence of tandem bicycles. This edition focuses on cycling in Europe during the 1930's and 40's an features a still photo of a tandem taxi racing team. The wealth of information in the back issues of VBQ regarding tandems and tandeming has been well worth the cost of the library alone, particularly for an enthusiast who has a deep affinity for the more simple times when bicycles were more common than the automobiles. Again, well worth a look for anyone looking for a restrospective on historic cycling, technology or current studies and book reviews.




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Speaking of Retrospectives - One of the forums I frequent has been all a buzz about the risks associated with cycling ever since Lance Armstrong broke his collarbone. While tempted to weigh in I have, instead, elected to reminisce about the early days of cycling in my youth. This was a time when just about every kid rode a bike to school, families would go out for rides around their neighborhood and nearly all the local newspapers were delivered by kids like me who ride bikes. Funny how today the bikes have been long gone and now so too are most of the local newspapers: I believe this is called progress?

Anyway, lest I digress further...

As I pondered the past and cycling's rightful place in history I was reminded that helmets, risk and the other current trappings of 'cycling' just weren't a part of my memory. We rode our bikes in street clothes and knew how to ride with traffic, just as we all knew how to walk against traffic. Our bikes all had mud guards and kickstands and in the Northeast we nervously anticipated that annual safety check the local police would perform at the Tisdale Elementary School before they would trade our registration card for a brand new, shiny reflective registration decal.

As I leafed through and pre-scanned my Spring '09 Bicycle Quarterly I saw several photos of tandems from the 30's that reinforced my recollection of cycling in Europe and urban centers in the Northeast US... Yes, people rode bikes! Cyclists were, in fact, the exception and not the rule as it was rare to see someone training on a bicycle outside the confines of a velodrome. In fact, and with this in mind, I did a Google image search on the phrase, people riding bicycles and found images of, well, people riding bikes. These were all kinds of people riding all kinds of bike and for a variety of different reasons but most in street clothes and not wearing helmets with a few helmeted cyclists dotted about and, yes, even a photo of naked people riding bikes (be forewarned). However, when I searched on images using just the term cyclists I was both shocked and surprised to find the results were dominated by helmeted racers, club riders and naked people riding bikes with just a few 'civilian cyclists' represented. There were far more cartoons and, well, just a lot of naked people riding bikes.

In an effort to shake off both the images of body-painted and nude cyclists and as well as the packs of helmet-clad cyclists, I sought refuge at You Tube with a two-part video reproduction of a 1955 movie produced by the British Rail film board entitled "Cyclists Special." What would it be like to hold a tandem rally like this!?

Cyclists Special, Part I

Cyclists Special, Part II

Of course, as fate would have it I also stumbled across another interesting video that chronicled cycling in all of its various forms during pre and post-war Europe, where tandems, recumbents and even semi-recumbents were all in evidence as were a few other more bizarre cycling creations: not much has changed aside at least in the variety department.

Cycling in its many forms

Thinking back on the Bicycle Quarterly I decided to build a small collage of cycling images from the 30's 60's and 70's, the latter all pulled from Bob Hufford's exceptional collection of Schwinn Lightweight Bicycle information, including scanned images of every consumer catalog from the 60's through the late 70's. For your enjoyment that is, if you're old enough to remember. Click on the smaller images to see larger ones and be sure to check out the prices on those tandems!!




And, lets not forget what the prototypical mountain biker looked like in Marin County, circa 1976..

From Charlie Kelly's Website (http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/mtbwelcome.htm)



circa 1977.. with the likes of Joe Breeze & Gary Fisher

The Bulletin Board at http://www.thetandemlink.com has been updated. The actual Links to the full stories, etc, that are the basis for my summaries are available here: http://www.thetandemlink.com.

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JULY 13th UPDATE (2,218)

A LONG overdue update follows

Remembrances: When someone in the tandem community passes the unfortunate truth is we often lose not one but two friends. However, that pales in comparison to the spouse who has suffered a loss that touches every aspect of their lives, more so than most average couples in that they've also lost their cycling partner and may even see a chapter close on a very large and important part of their social life. It is especially difficult when one of our friends is taken suddenly and while still young, vibrant and so full of life.


Bloomingcyclist Math Scholarship Fund (http://www.mccsfoundation.org/index.html)


Santana Website Address For those who may maintain their own links lists or Web sites with links to tandem builders, touring companies and the like please note Santana Tandems can be found at http://www.santanatandem.com. Heretofore, the URL www.santanainc.com had also been used and it is no longer the correct address. Please made a note of the change and update your links at your earliest convenience.


Tandems East Heading Back To New Zealand Mel & Barbara Kornbluh wrote to let us know that they're headed back to New Zealand on December 30th, 2009 for 17 nights and 18 days of tandem cycling and sightseeing that allows you to fully amortize the time and expense you invested in getting yourself, your mate and your tandem across the Pacific Ocean. You can read more about the trip HERE.


Hokitika Tandems I mentioned back in March that Tandems East introduced its own house-branded line of tandems, the Hokitika a value-priced entry level tandem made in the USA that fills the gap left by the departure of Burley. Well, I finally had the opportunity to see one: it was their first Hokitika Triplet upon its delivery to the new owners at last weekend's Eastern Tandem Rally. I must say, for the price point the frame and paint was very good and the build kit was excellent. A great way for a team to get their toes wet with a hand-made steel tandem before making the next jump to a premium-brand tandem.


Gates Carbon Drive Belts: Install & Remove With Care: AND THEY MEAN IT!! For those who have gone all-in with the uber-lightweight Gates Carbon Drive / Tandem Sync Belt Drive being offered on new Co-Motion racing tandems as an option or upgrade for other tandems that have ~28.4" stoker compartments, be respectful of the manufacturer's belt handling and installation guidelines. Here's the skinny: somebody had to be first to break a Carbon Drive belt and to go public about it and they did just that on one of the discussion forums I frequent. Thankfully, the team was very forthcoming with the conditions under which their belt broke to include the root cause: re-installing the belt by 'rolling it on' with a turn of the cranks after the belt was pushed off a pulley during unloading. The latter is clearly called-out as a Bozo-No-No by Gates in this warning notice. So, please read and heed, lest you find yourself asking your stoker to power you home all by themselves.


R&E Cycles Newsletter Strikes a Chord With Me Being a certified geek, I'm on distribution for a variety of catalogs and newsletters offered up by the folks who produce and sell my beloved tandems. R&E Cycle's newsletter produced and largely written by Dan Towle routinely contains Dan's very subjective views on whatever particular subject that has recently caught his interest. In the July August edition Dan brought a smile to my face when he weighted in on "standards" or the lack thereof. Definitely worth a read to anyone who has an interest in (or perhaps an aversion to ) the ever-changing bottom bracket designs or other proprietary parts that eschew ISO, JIS or other standards. For those who would like to peruse back issues, here's a link to the archives.


Team Tatt! The Faces of Tandemings Future At this year's Tennessee Tandem Rally we had the pleasure of meeting some wonderful 'kids' who may be the future of tandem cycling: Team Tatt, short for Team Tattoo. Jon & Stacy are friends and fellow track-rat friends of Billy & Melissa who also represent the younger generation of tandem enthusiasts and and took time out to chronicle their first tandem rally at their BLOG. It's a great article with lots of photos which you can find HERE.


2010 Tennessee Tandem Rally: A New Location!! In an effort to mix-it-up a bit, the 8th edition of the Tennessee Tandem Rally (TTR) will be held in the mid-state region nearer to Nashville. For those who follow such things, TTR has been firmly ensconced in the Alcoa, TN area for the past 7 years and will go on the road in 2010 and 2011 before coming back to Alcoa in 2012 for the 10th Anniversary edition. Look for more details at the TTR Web site towards the end of the year when more details regarding the 2010 event.


The Best of Craigslist; A few things from the bike shop. [Warning: PG-18] This was forwarded to me by good friend Tim P. of Louisville, TN over the weekend and, well, two comments: (1) the language and sentiment is for mature and open-minded adults only, and (2) it may not be as funny to some as it will be to others. It all depends on how often you actually use the sports racks on your Subaru. Without further ado, and once again warning you that the F-bomb and other colorful language is used, here is THE LINK.


Canberra Tandem Festival: 19 and 20 Sept 2009 - Judy James wrote to let us know about a weekend tandem festival that will be held on September 19 & 20 at Commonwealth Park in Floriade, Canberra. Additional details can be found at the Pedal Power website, http://www.pedalpower.org.au/events via email cbrtandems@gmail.com.au.


Minnewaska Mohonk Offroad Tandem weekend, Nov 6-8, 2009. Good friend Malcolm Boyd wrote to let us know that the Doubles of the Garden State (aka, DOGS) will be meeting for three days of off-road tandeming at Minnewaska State Park and Mohonk Mountain Preserve just west of New Paltz, NY on Nov 6-8. You can find more information at the DOGS website by clicking HERE.