After well over a year of searching, emails, close calls and near misses, I finally have a Circe tandem to call my own. After hiring from Bristol Tandems last summer, the kids and I have been keen to get a tandem of our own. It's not exactly the spec that I wanted but very close. I compromised on the Alfine as I'm not a fan of it due to a bad few experiences with Alfines on a Boardman commuter that I reluctantly own (long story). The condition of the bike for 2nd hand is unbelievable. No bike that I own is in what you could call as new condition, but this certainly is.
The courier dropped it to us yesterday and we built it up rather quickly, including shiny new crank shorteners from Laid Back Bikes. I took the kids in turn, younger child for 11 miles and older girl for 16 miles. It's quite hilly round where we are and we were in 1st a few times. The bike is heavy, especially at the rear and we ended up a touch slower than i would've expected. I've a shopping list made up already containing a rear rack, thudbuster seatpost, double kickstand, mudguards, new grips and bar ends. I understand though that this all adds weight when I should really just admit that it's already heavy enough. For now, due to lockdown we're limited to local roads but we've got bigger plans once this passes. We'll have our legs prepped and our tyres pumped in anticipation.
The courier dropped it to us yesterday and we built it up rather quickly, including shiny new crank shorteners from Laid Back Bikes. I took the kids in turn, younger child for 11 miles and older girl for 16 miles. It's quite hilly round where we are and we were in 1st a few times. The bike is heavy, especially at the rear and we ended up a touch slower than i would've expected. I've a shopping list made up already containing a rear rack, thudbuster seatpost, double kickstand, mudguards, new grips and bar ends. I understand though that this all adds weight when I should really just admit that it's already heavy enough. For now, due to lockdown we're limited to local roads but we've got bigger plans once this passes. We'll have our legs prepped and our tyres pumped in anticipation.