bgblue1978

i have done some google searching but havent been able to find what i'm looking for so hopefully some of you guys can help. we have an older kuwahara steel tandem which uses dia compe cantilever brakes and a drum. the right brake lever controls both rim brakes. the cable from this lever is different than any i have seen, it has 2 cables attached at the end. just looking at the lever it will take some doing to try to use 2 seperate cables so i was hoping to find this cable. i can try to get a picture in a few days when i get home but if anyone knows where to get one i'd appreciate the help. by the way i talked to a lbs and they didnt have any answers.

Tom Spohn

Check Tandems Limited or Tandems East.

zonatandem

Most folks do not utilize that type of setup now.
Seperate cables for front and rear brake operated by pilot + thumb-type or barcon shifter on stoker's bar for drum is more efficient.

bgblue1978

not sure i want her controlling a break. i have been thinking about ditching the drum and getting a nice new wheelset but not sure if i want to spend the money on new wheels for this bike. its a little big for us

steve53mg

My old Burley had the dual dia-compe lever. It used 2 standard road cables...the same as Shimano. It was a bit cumbersome to feed the individual cables through the lever and into the shared bushing inside the mount, but not impossible! I didn't like this set up because it needed alot of hand strength and my hand would throb on a long ride. I agree with zona...I would seperate the front and back to the left and right levers and put the drum on a seperate control (stoker barcan). If you don't want to surrender control to the stoker, you can get a non-indexed thumb shifter and keep it on the front bar. By adjusting the friction on the lever, you can set the drum to drag and forget about it on a long descent.

ksisler

If one of the other readers haven't already pointed to a tandem specific LBS, recommend trying one of them. I use Precision Tandem DOT com and Tandems East DOT com. If you are willing to consider such, one way out of the issue is to change the menioned brake lever to one that has two holes (the two T-LBSs stock them). Then you can use standard tandem length cables. Other path is to put one rim brake on each hand and move the drag brake to one of those ratcheting levers that look like a bar-end shifter one, but has the mount to fit on your handlebar up near the stem. Precision Tandems stocks those and they are cheap. In the end, that is probably the best answer if you find you are using the drag brake much, such as in doing many hills. Then you can set it mid way and let it slow you down over a period of minutes without wearing out your hands.

ksisler

Those old school drum breaks are actually still very good for their intended use...as a drag brake for hills. Recommend give it a year or two of use before making a decision to spend on fixing it...

Tom Spohn

We had this setup on our old Peugeot. I adjusted the front to actuate a tiny bit ahead of the back. Most slowing was done by the drum followed by the dual caliper to stop. Not as good as todays disk systems but we got down several mountain passed this way. (Ride around Mt. Rainier)