Hi folks, I am a new member to this forum. I found Bike Forums while conducting some internet research on my latest two-wheel acquisition - a Motobecane Inter Club tandem. I encountered a thread from a couple of years ago which involved discussion between members that had such a bicycle. Mine is original and in decent shape, but I'm relatively unschooled on the subject of tandems. Specific questions I have at the moment include what pressure should the tires be inflated to and what is involved in repacking/rebuilding bottom brackets on this French jewel. I would also like to hear from someone who has changed seat posts as I would like to fit a slightly taller one for the captain's seat. In addition to this I would welcome any advice and/or cautions related to this machine. Thanks so much.

The cranks are going to require a French puller to get them off to service the bottom bracket. I don't think anyone sells the tool any more, so you will need to check older bike shops to find one.

Tire pressure is a function of tire and rim size, so narrower tires require more pressure. And unlike a single bike, the tandem typically has more weight on the front end due to the weight of the captain and the length of the frame.

Take it out for a few solo rides to get used to shifting and braking and the long wheelbase before taking your stoker.

Thanks for the counsel. I guess that a Peugeot might present similar issues to the Motobecane. My rides thus far have consisted of a couple of around-the-block jaunts solo and with a schoolteacher colleague who weighs about a hundred pounds. She thinks it's great fun, but we're going to have to see some slightly warmer temperatures before we venture farther.

The tires that the bike came with were rather weathered and worn so I fitted the bike with Schwalbe Marathon 27 x 1 ¼'s that I had hanging around. I inflated them to 85 psi which produces a pretty stiff ride. I subsequently found an old Motobecane spec sheet that listed Hutchinson tires at 50 psi for the Inter Club, so I thought I'd let a little air out and see what it felt like.

I'm a western Ohio native myself, born and mostly raised in Greenville along US 127.

Thanks again for the advice.

Looks like a nice bike!

Check out the tandem subforum for general tandem riding advice, there have been a couple there recently.

On my 80's Santana tandem, I have the pressure around 85. I could take it up to 100, but I'm happy where it is. I don't think tandem tires have different pressure requirements than regular bikes.

I had to change the seatpost for the captain's position due to it being worn out. It took several times going to REI to find the right one, since the inner tubing was thinner than originally. I also had to have a bike shop use their seatpost tube sander, to clean the corrosion out.

I grew up at the northern end of 127 near Bryan.

Tandems don't really have different pressure requirements, only that they are carrying a lot more weight, so you need to have enough air to keep from getting a pinch flat. 50 psi seems a little low for a 27x1 1/4. I would keep it around 70.

French bikes up until the mid 1980s used their own standards for almost everything. Here is an article that covers the differences. French Bicycles

There's also a tandem subforum, check in there when you get a chance.
On my tandem, I use 700x32 at 100 psi, gives a fairly cushy ride.
Advice/cautions: Get familiar with the brakes before hitting any long steep hills. (Is that a drum brake/drag brake on the rear?) Watch the gearing going UP a steep hill- doesn't look to be geared too low.
It took me about 1,000 miles before the tandem didn't feel "weird".
When I first started, I could stand, or stoker could stand, but not real comfortable either way. But if we both stood, hey, no problem, although it seemed like it'd be harder.
When you stand and pedal while stoker stays seated, you have to watch, as you can flop the bike to one side or the other and it won't flop back!
It may be helpful to communicate when you're going to coast. "Coasting!"
It's helpful to holler "bump" when you see one coming up, the stoker can't see them.
I was riding with a tandem couple one time and the stoker was saying "6...5...4..." She saw me looking and said "Oh, it's just something we do..." Later, I found out she was telling the captain what gear he was in, he can't see the rear sprocket.

Cautions?
Tandems don't always work out to be the inspiration the Captain had hoped for.
Always listen to the stoker.
I'll stop there.

Beautiful bike, by th by.

Do move over to the Tandem Forum if you have specific performance questions..
I've been lurking a bit over there because I just recently bought a low-mileage tandem similar to yours..
The tandem riders there have a wealth of valuable knowledge, experience, advice and good sense.

Binky

Nice looking tandem. I couldn't say the exact year but I'd guess it to be maybe late 70's. It would have been aimed at a similar market segment as our '82 Peugeot. It shares some of the same components and configuration.

You asked about several technical things.

For the seatpost, measure it with a good caliper. Places like Harris Cyclery typically have or can order a seatpost of any diameter. The thing to be careful of though is that the stoker's stem must fit it too. If the original seatpost was fit into the captain's ST through a collar (like on a UO-8) or if the original seatpost was dual-diameter, then stoker's stem may want a different diameter from what the frame wants.

Your cranks, at least on the timing chain side, are TA (or a lookalike) and will require a TA crank puller. Pompiere was half-right about it being French; it is French of course, but you might be mislead into getting a Stronglight puller which is different still. TA pullers should be available if you look hard enough. Not necessarily cheap though. Unless it was build after the French started migrating to more universal English standards, any decent French bearing cups should work for the BB's. Remember, if French both sides use right-hand threads, and the right side must be torqued in quite tight or they will come loose.

Those brakes are almost like ours, Mafac cantilever, Atom drum. Our bike has canti's on the rear as well as the front. It was rigged by the factory with the dual cable on the right hand, the drum on the left. I kept it that when I built the bike up from a bare frame because the cable housing braze-ons worked better that way. I would have preferred it with canti's on the left because all my other bikes have front on the left (the traditional European way). I usually just operate both levers anyway. The drum does add significant stopping power, though its original purpose was to let you control speed on a long descent without overheating the rim. It doesn't require much maintenance as long as the linings are in good shape but you'll need a "special" tool to service the bearings if it is like ours. The left-side bearing cup requires a 15mm cone wrench but you can't get one in there because it is down in the drum well. I took a 15mm cone wrench with longish handle section, and bent a curve into it so I could dip it down into the well. Bending it was hard! The first time you pull the left side apart you'll see what I mean. It isn't tricky though.

Tires and pressure? We just use Pasela TourGuard, 32mm, pumped up to between 95 and 100psi (their nominal max is 95). You are carrying more weight than a solo bike so more pressure would seem advisable. I replaced the rear tire at about 3500 miles, but probably didn't have too. We've ridden upwards of 6000 miles over the last 4 years and never had a flat, but did pick up one sliver of glass in the rear last year which gave us a slow hard-to-find leak.

As for riding, ah, that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish. Several rules must be followed. The Captain is the Boss, period. Job 1 is to keep the bike safe. Job 2 is to keep the Stoker happy. The Captain does all the steering, braking, turning, gear selection, etc. The Stoker's job is to pedal, enjoy the scenery, and the tell the Captain what he/she did wrong. In the latter case, the Stoker is always right. The Stoker can't see through the Captain but the freedom to look aside usually means he/she sees so much that the Captain can't see because he/she is focused on the road surface 20yds ahead. If the Captain wears a helmet-mounted mirror the Stoker must never try to peer over the Captain's left shoulder to see what is in front.

The Captain can't see or hear the gears. If you have a triple crank and the Captain asks what chainring you are on, the Stoker should answer Big, Middle, or Granny. "Little" sounds too much like "Middle". Most shifts don't have to be called out, but shifting to the granny ring does because the higher chain tension can make that shift problematic. The Captain must avoid bumps (you're carrying a lot of weight, remember) and call out those that cannot be missed.

Develop a procedure for starting and stopping. Decide which pedal will be down by default for most situations, even coasting. When you are coasting, especially over a series of bumps, the Captain should call out when to start pedaling again. The reason is the Stoker may have lifted off the saddle and will be surprised when the pedals start to move.

Enjoy the ride!

Nice tandem and I like the combination with the mixte in the back. Ditto what jimmuller said.

Do go over to the Tandem forum and get up to speed.

Thanks for taking the time to begin my education on the subject of tandems. Your post is fairly comprehensive. I've been wondering about French cranks since I picked up the Motobecane Grand Touring. I don't know what year it was made. I need to make a good picture of it and post it somewhere on the Forum. It is a fifteen speed, which make me think it might be a more recent model (say late 80's/early 90's). I don't really have any basis for that assumption except that all of the other such models I've seen are ten or twelve-speeds. I really like the gear set up for casual riding around our small town, but the bike developed a little bottom bracket play and I hung it up and resorted to my everyday Trek until I have time to sort it out. Now that I've got three French bottom brackets to service, I guess I can justify the expense of a special puller. I do have the little Park puller that works on British and US bikes. Is there any harm in carefully threading it into the French cranks to see if, by chance, it works? I'd really hate to screw up threads.

A cycling buddy of mine recently goaded me about not having a tandem among my collection of bikes. When I found the Inter Club at a nominal price, I thought, "Why not?" The rural town I live in is not very bike progressive, but just lately there has been a surge of interest in cycling among the 30-40-ish set. Most of these seem to want to do fast-paced exercise jaunts, which is not my style, but I welcome any company here. I think the tandem, along with the little Dahon's I picked up at an east Tennessee yard sale, can serve to promote interest in cycling. Who knows? Maybe I'll really enjoy riding double and it will become an avocation.

Thanks again for your correspondence. It's great to be able to talk bikes with knowledgeable folks.

Darn! I intended the reply at the bottom for jimmuller. I've got to become more adept at navigating the forum. Thanks for the advice.

I meant to add that I'm grateful to everyone who responded. I appreciate your interest and advice. Thanks.

My Moto Interclub cranks are TA

You will need a French style puller, the regular style won't work. I tried that on my own TA cranks, and it slipped out. I went to a local bike shop, and they had the tool, and pulled them for a nominal fee.

Two points. I'll address the second point first. There absolutely is danger in using the wrong crank puller. And just because it is French doesn't necessarily make it correct, since not all French cranks were the same. There, I tried to make the point as forcefully as possible. To clarify: There are three different crank-removal threads - 1. most English/Campy/Japanese, 2. Stronglight, and 3. TA. (There may be others too but if so they weren't common.)

TA cranks are not like any of the others and their tools will not fit each others' threads. Unfortunately English/Campy/Japanese and Stronglight are almost the same. Stronglight used a thread with just a bit larger diameter than E/C/J, so if you try to use a Campy or Sugino or other "English" thread tool on a Stronglight crank you will strip the threads. DO NOT TRY IT. To make matters even worse, at some point in the early 80's, perhaps '82, Stronglight switched over to the common E/C/J threading. I'm not a Stronglight expert and perhaps someone else can be more specific. Anyway, you can tell which one you have by how the tool fits. If the threads seem loose, then you are trying to put an E/C/J tool into the earlier Stronglight threads.

But this is a moot point because you need a TA tool anyway.

About the gearing, our Peugeot is an '82 and it came as a 15 speed too. In fact, I would have thought that by the late 80's most everything would have gone over to 6-speed rears. Those stem shifters on your are what make me think it is early to mid-70's.

One of the bike magazines back then did a comparison of the Gitane, the Peugeot TH8, and a Motobecane (I think it was). It was available on the Web somewhere but I can't recall exactly where. You may be able to Google it. It may give you a clue about years.

Welcome to BF!

OP, looks like a nice and clean ride. There's quite a bit of learning curve in riding tandem and total different spectrum of cycling. Not for everyone but well worth exploring or attempt.

Lots of comments above about the crank extraction.

I do have a few bikes with various models and years TA Specialite and Stronglight cranks. Our tandem has TA cranks as well. I lose track of what fits what but use an older, I believe no longer produced Park crank extractor. Sort of funny because twice have had comments from bike shop techs who tell me its not readily possible to do, whatever. Maybe they're blurry eyed on how cool the cranks are. Anyhow, I've never had a single problem using it. Has a reversible threaded head - different threads that's used in all my vintage and that fits both TA and Stronglight. Let me know if you need the Park tool number and I highly suggest hunting fleabay. This way you'll have both French version thread application.

Some additional notes from the Sheldon Brown site:
Older TA and Stronglight cranks each had their own unique thread for for the crank extractor, and you will need to get the correct puller for the crank you are working on. TA used a 23 mm extractor, Stronglight used 23.35 mm until 1982, when it converted to the standard 22mm diameter. You must use the correct crank extractor. Be especially careful not to use a TA extractor on a Stronglight crank. It will thread in, but it may strip the threads in the crank.

For tire pressure, there are a couple factors. The first question is what's the ideal pressure for your bike? This is a function of tire size and load. The more weight you put on your tire, the more air you need in it. I just follow the chart published by Jaan Heine in Bicycle Quarterly some time ago:

Note that this is per tire. Front and rear do not typically run the same pressure.

The other question is: how much pressure can your tire handle? This is printed on the side and may assume a hooked rim. You may not have hooked rims. But this is an issue mainly if you're close to the maximum allowable pressure.

As for tire pressure. it is listed on the sidewall of each tire brand.
We run 120 PSI on our Maxxis Re-Fuse 700x25 tires on our tandem.
Way back in the 70s to the early 90s we ran TA cranks on our tandems. You need a TA crank puller for that.

I read that as "maximum pressure," which is not the same as "ideal pressure." They may or may not coincide.

From the FWIW Department: The sidewalls of at least one pair of 25mm Paselas on my bikes say "Keep inflated to 115psi."

gv73, the real point is that there is no ideal, perfect, you're-supposed-to-run-this pressure. Unless your rims are not hooked-bead there should be a significant margin of safety over the sidewall value but don't go overboard using it. People sometimes prefer to run higher or lower for various reasons. Lower can give a smoother ride and there is some evidence (IMHO a bit dubious, but what do I know?) that lower pressure reduces drag over some kinds of road surfaces. OTOH, with lower pressure you are more susceptible to pinch-flats caused by hitting bumps or potholes really hard. I prefer having a margin of safety against pinch flats, but what do I know?

On the tandem, I do go ahead and run them at the maximum (minus 2 psi of roundoff).

On the shifting, I can look down and see the front rings okay, it's just the rear that can't be seen. Although that's usually not a problem for me.

If you and the stoker both unclip the same foot when you stop, no problem, you can work out starting and stopping pretty easily, just like a regular bike but with two feet down.
If one is right-footed and one is left-footed, it gets more complicated. In my case, the way we handle that is the stoker clips both feet in before we start and stays clipped in until we're stopped. That means the captain gets to handle bike+stoker weight at intermediate stops, etc. In that case, when you unclip, put your foot out farther than you normally would.
You need to anticipate downshifts more than on a single bike. If you're coming up to a stop, don't get caught in Monster Gear trying to take off on an uphill. Downshift before you need to coming up on hills, so you're not dropping a chain when you try to downshift at full power while teetering along at 5 mph.

Thanks to all for the excellent advice. I am processing. I am also committing to search for a TA crank puller. Bike shops are few and far between in my neck of the woods so I'd better hone my bicycle maintenance skills. Besides, dragging a tandem to Memphis in an old Honda Prelude is a bit of a stretch (no pun intended). I'm grateful for the interest and support the Bike Forum has generated so far. Hope I can someday return the favor

Oddjob2,

Thanks for taking the time to post a picture of those cranks. I stumbled upon your 2-year-old post while searching the internet for Motobecane tandem information. As I recall, yours was found in immaculate condition. Mine's not bad, but not nearly so pristine as yours. Do you have any idea of the year? I unearthed another post by randyjawa in which he described his failed attempt to interest his wife in tandem cycling. He identified his model as a 1993. It looks just about identical to mine. On the other hand, I think Motobecane must have used the same color scheme and decals on their tandems for years. I don't know if there's a good way to date them. Thanks again.

Oddjob2 called it right. The TA is spelled out quite clearly on the Inter Club's crank arms, just like his. I've now got a Stein TA crank puller on the way. My Motobecane Grande Touring road bike is a different story. The arms simply say "Motobecane" of the outside. On the back of each arm it says " 170 Japan SR (a sort of interlocking logo) 21". Now I'm wondering if this represents one of the later Motobecane models that adopted English/Japanese sizing. Thanks again to all who share advice.