Aleman
Knees are FUBAR but I don't like to mention it
- Location
- Blackpool UK
The old one was looking very tatty, and the sizing wasn't "perfect" for us meaning I was stretched out. The drops also meant my stokers nose was pressed up against my back more or less. We could also develop some whip in the frame especially when loaded, which felt weird. It only had a 6 speed freewheel, with no real chance of changing it to get a better range of gears.
I did start to convert it to straight bar, which worked well, especially fitting a Magura HS-33R rim brake, the only issue was that the clamp for the stokers bar also meant that I couldn't get my saddle height down where I needed it to be. The plan was to use it this summer, and then if we decided that we were going to continue riding tandem (We are!) then it would be stripped completely, resprayed, and rebuilt with a Rohloff hub, which I knew would be expensive. The other issue I noticed from the slightly higher seat position was that I was over extending my knee, which was causing pain, which was a bit of a problem that I had to solve.
While pricing various options up, and visiting frame builders for respray / repair / modification costs, I stumbled across SJSC site which had a deal on the old model of tandem at a ridiculous price ... actually less than rebuilding ours ... They had a frame in our size, so a deal was done.
I did start to convert it to straight bar, which worked well, especially fitting a Magura HS-33R rim brake, the only issue was that the clamp for the stokers bar also meant that I couldn't get my saddle height down where I needed it to be. The plan was to use it this summer, and then if we decided that we were going to continue riding tandem (We are!) then it would be stripped completely, resprayed, and rebuilt with a Rohloff hub, which I knew would be expensive. The other issue I noticed from the slightly higher seat position was that I was over extending my knee, which was causing pain, which was a bit of a problem that I had to solve.
While pricing various options up, and visiting frame builders for respray / repair / modification costs, I stumbled across SJSC site which had a deal on the old model of tandem at a ridiculous price ... actually less than rebuilding ours ... They had a frame in our size, so a deal was done.