SWG

Cool thanks for the details. I am going to give that friction lever on the handlebar stem a try for the drum brake. Seems like that is one of the better ways to do it and it surely was how the bikes came from the factory? The cable routing is designed for something at the front for sure. On the stem I meant the stoker seat stem, did you mean that too? It looks like is a suspension type.

SWG

This is our Burley Duet, acquired about a month ago. From the components (Suntour XCE, 7-speed) I believe it's an early model, probably 1993. It's mostly original.

So far I have replaced wear items including cables & housings, both chains, brake shoes, bar tape. I found some correct brake lever hoods and freed up the stoker seat stem which was seized – someone installed a super long one and just rammed it in there past the corrosion in the tube and got it well stuck. I replaced the two large chain rings which were difficult to match but I found suitable ones. I fixed the rear derailleur - the pin that stops it from over-rotating was missing so of course it fell apart when I removed the rear wheel. The freewheel had a broken tooth, replaced that. It had cruddy racks on it which I removed and will replace with better ones. It had ugly pedals on the front which I replaced. Maybe some other small improvements in the future but mostly just get it working close to new shape and add some touring gear like bottle cages and proper racks.

I got it to ride with my daughter who has a mild disability that prevents her from riding a two-wheeler. She's been on it a few times and I have ridden with my wife as well. It's a really decent bike and fun to ride, never owned a tandem before. We'll mostly ride it in the city.

bazil4696

I like the Burley! Welcome to tandem life. We started with an old Norco Cape Cod, then bought a new KHS Cross, and now, as you know, we've snagged the Claud Butler. We can't wait till this lockdown is lifted so we can do day trips and stop for refreshments. Even finding a place to pee is almost impossible up till now.
That picture looks like it was taken on Queen St. by the storefront display!

SWG

Queen Street is close! Lake Shore Boulevard West, near Kipling. My wife's storefront.

samkl 

You mean the stoker seat post? That’s a Tamer, which came with the bike. Seems to work pretty well, according to the stoker.

bazil4696

Small world!
I used to work at 3600 Lakeshore back in the 90's, but industry went away, one by one over the years, replaced by condos

SWG

Photo was taken directly across the street from where the Goodyear factory once stood, but at 3600 you must have been to the west.

SWG

Yes that's what I mean. I will look for one of those. Stoker seat post on my bike is not original.

PedalingWalrus

rjhammett

BicicletaFavor

Fantastic photos!

act0fgod

Our Bilenkey on it's first gravel trip after a conversion to di2 and new tires.

torger

Our tandem has been featured before in this thread but it was a while ago and I've done some minor upgrades since last, so I hope it's okay to show it again. The photos are fresh from a couple of days ago. It's a 2017 Cannondale Road tandem where we have built custom 650B wheels to ride gravel, with these wheels 47mm rubber fits. To make it more friendly for the stoker I have nowadays installed an ee-silk seatpost, which is like a thudbuster mini, with 2 cm of travel. I've also installed a mudguard. I wanted to have one that is easy to remove so for riding fast/racing style we could remove it, turns out that a "permament" mudguard like this only has four screws so it's easy to take off and on.

I think the stoker bike computer is new since last time too, I wanted to have a speedometer to look at for the stoker. Unfortunately the wide frame made it impossible for normal mounting of sensor/spoke magnet, so I had to have the spoke magnet on the brake disc. The distance is too far for any wireless computer I've tried, so I had to use a wired computer. The wiring is a bit messy but I've at least hidden it on the non-drive side so it doesn't show up on drive side photos . If someone has a suggestion about "long-range" wireless bike computer I'm all ears. Of course a GPS unit would solve the problem, but for the stoker I rather want a computer that can hold battery for quite some time.

Other notable adjustments from original is a 24 inner ring giving us 630% gear range (52->11 to 24->32), and shimmed down the front seatpost from 31,6 to 27,2 to be able to use standard stems for the stoker. We also swapped out the bullhorn bar to a drop bar, extra wide at 46 cm to fit a captain's butt in between if needed.

mbliven

Great description and photos of your Cannondale upgrades. It's a nice looking rig and looks like a comfortable ride too (although my stoker might complain about only 2 cm of seat travel!) I bet the 47mm tires soak up the bumps. Are those your regular pedals or do you use clipless pedals also (i.e., SPD)?

torger

Yes I use SPD for longer rides, in the photos it's setup for local rides around town. My stoker prefers flat pedals always though. For the SPD I actually use a special short axle pedal from SQLab which brings down the Q-factor with 10 mm, with that it's still a bit wider than a road bike Q-factor, but at least closer. When I do hard efforts or ride for a long time I prefer to have that narrower Q-factor, for shorter or slower rides the wider Q-factor doesn't bother me. For short axle pedals to work one need to not have too wide shoes (eg large feet) or the heel inwards otherwise the shoes will rub against the cranks. Luckily it works for me. I can recommend to try it out to anyone that find tandem Q-factor be wider than they would prefer.

Indeed the 47mm soaks up a lot, especially with a bit lower pressure. We have 28 mm road wheels as well, and it's a huge difference.

Force 

Hello all, I normally hang out in the Classic & Vintage section of the forum, but recently bought this Mel Pinto Special tandem from the mid-80s. In the process of getting it up and running. This is my first tandem.

CABELLOJO

Has anyone ever shipped a tandem cross country usa? Price?

jccaclimber

I've done one, but it was coupled so it fit in 2 cases.
I'd start with Bikeflights and Shipbikes. Both are just reselling UPS/FedEx/etc. shipping services, but at a lower price than you can get walking in off the street. In my case I think it was less than $200 cross country and insured. If you see the bike in person I understand that it is sometimes possible to check a full size tandem on a flight for a bike fee, but I've never tried.

jim_pridx

Nice! I hope you enjoy riding it!

BobT1962

I would be happy to share but need 10 posts before i can upload a picture...LOL

mtn_cyclist

This is our full custom titanium Merlin Telluride XL Tandem. We did just race the Leadville Trail 100 on it. This is at Twin Lakes during a training ride.

masispecial

Late 70s Ritchey road tandem, with a few 80s and 90s upgrades

fooferdoggie 

the beast got his name

cyccommute 

Basically have changed as much as I’m going to change. I have a 450 mm Thomson seatpost coming but that is only to replace the one that was cut off too short (not by me) for the captain.




New brakes installed last night.




What it looked like about a month ago when I bought it.

urbanknight

Finally got a good pic of us and our bike.