As noted in a post from June 22nd (Revisiting an old tandem), our old Longstaff tandem has been back in use while the Thorn touring tandem was out of action pending the seat post stump removal and indeed since the Thorn was repaired. It must be 20 to 25 years since it has seen regular use! It's a remarkable sprightly ride, but in its original set up rather a harshe ride, especially for the stoker.
I’ve cleaned it up, and made a bunch of changes to address comfort.
- I fitted a Satori stoker bar which gives us a bit more space, particularly benefiting Carol as the stoker. Initially I coke can shimmed the bars to fit the handlebar extension, but I have replaced that with a proper handlebar shim.
- Replaced the tatty bar tape with some white bar tape from BBB. I’m hoping it’ll be possible to keep it clean as it now looks quite smart!
- A long time ago, I fitted a 57 tooth chainring because I was doing time trials on this tandem. This compromised the upshift from the small to middle ring, so I ordered a 52T TA replacement ring, and things now work much better.
- We’ve noticed that this tandem develops a clicking noise after about 2h of riding, possibly the front seatpost or saddle. It remains to be determined what exactly is going on, especially because you need to ride for 2+ hours before you have something to diagnose! I’ve replaced the seatpost because according to my stoker that’s where the clicking is coming from. We now think it's the rear seatpost that's clicking!
- For the rebuild, I decided to fit some 28mm tyres instead of the 25mm tyres, which owing to the pressures needed for tandem use gave a pretty harsh ride. If I’d stopped to think this through, I’d have expected this to make damn all difference to comfort - and that was the case. I’ve now gone for some 32mm Conti GP5000 tyres which when run at 85psi definitely improve comfort.
This is very much an ‘old school’ tandem - it has a Campagnolo tandem chainset (based on one of their old MTB chainsets. This has a triple chainset, which is just as well since the tandem has a 7 speed freewheel. The hubs are Campagnolo 40 hole tandem hubs. The rear is threaded for a drum brake, but the frame doesn’t have the braze-ons for that. I built these wheels myself about 30 years ago using Sapim 13G single butted Alpine spokes and Mavic Module 3 CD rims. It’s the rims that limit the tyre size I can fit, and reading about this it seems that 32mm tyres are about the biggest I can use. I have a Campagnolo Chorus 8-speed rear mech and ergo levers, which work well with the 7-speed freewheel. Braking is via a pair of old style Dia Compe cantilever brakes which seem to work well with the Ergo levers.