palmtree

I recently bought an older Tandem (Yokota Grizzly peak) to resurrect and ride with my son on some short 3-4 day trips. It is a mountain tandem and in pretty decent shape as is. It is a steel frame that was made in the USA with True Temper tubing. I'm guessing it was made around 1992 or so. I would like to make a few updates to improve on it. First and foremost I want to improve the braking. It has a canitlever in the front and a pitiful U-brake in the back. The front is easy -- I can replace the fork without too much trouble. The problem is in the back. I would like to use disc brakes or at least v-brakes. But u-brake to v-brake is not a direct swap so it will require some frame manipulation. I called the semi-local bike shop (the only frame shop I could find withing 200 miles) to ask. They said it would cost $125 to $150 to add a rear disc mount. Does that sound right? It seems a little high to me. Is this something my local weld shop can do? Is this something I can do? I do have access to a torch. I have never done any brazing, but my Dad is a master plumber so he knows his way around a torch. Any help is appreciated.
By the way, I live in Warrensburg, Mo which is about 50 miles from KC.
Thanks

NoReg

i don't know a thing about mountain tandems, but would it be possible to just add a tandem drum brake in the rear? Some tandem use three brakes which ads some safety and extra grip. There is a 287 brake that draws three cables.

Welder certainly can do the work, but it is specialized and requires experience welding very thin-wall tubes. The welder is also going to be fixturing the job and what does he know about that kind of work on a bike? The right person can do it, the wrong person will mess it up.

palmtree

Thanks for the information. That's kinda what I figured about the local weld shop. I just reread my OP and I was wrong about the price quoted. It was actually $125 to $150 to do the job at the frame shop in Kansas City. Is that about the expected cost for such a job? It's too high for me to pay so if that's what it costs then I will have to look for another option.
I don't know much about the drum brake you mentioned but I guess i will check into it.
thanks,
Brett

NoReg

It sounds a bit like a high price from someone who doesn't really want to do it. I would say about 50 to have it attached as an option on a frame they were making. So for a walk-in it would be higher, if there was paint or mechanical assembly or disassembly, it could be at the cheap end since you have to figure the minimum on any of that stuff could be 50 each.

You might want to ask around the tandem forum here for brake options. Tandems can be stopped without discs, though I can see the appeal if you have a tandem and an MTB.

One thing they do on choppers is attach the brake to a plate that fits onto the axle and hols it aligned with the disc. Looks like a section of pie. Obviously if you put the brake on it would rotate the plate, so there is a little cable to the stay that stops that from happening. No reason why that wouldn't work on a bicycle and it eliminates the need for a brazed on part.

palmtree

That is interesting. I'll check into it. Thanks again Peterpan1.