Amanda P
Legendary Member
- Location
- York. Well, York-ish...
At the York Cycle Show, I was wandering through the trade show tent during a particularly wet spell when I noticed two of the staff from the JD Cycles stand riding their Hase Pino out of the door and around the test track.
Now, the Pino is a bike Mrs Uncle Phil and I have had our eyes on for some time, as, due to the disparity in our sizes, it’s one of the few tandems we might be able to ride together.
I next found myself chatting to the people from JD Cycles, who I discovered have a shop in Ilkley, not a million miles from York. I wondered if they rented out tandems? Apparently not, but it would be entirely in order for us to borrow one for a day to try it out – just call up and book it. So I did just that a couple of days later. Mrs Uncle Phil has been working away from home, but was due back the weekend I booked: it would be a nice surprise for her.
Come the day we’d planned our tandem ride, it was raining, hard. In fact there was a Severe Weather Warning out. It was still raining when we arrived in Ilkley, but we found that, due to Mrs Uncle Phil’s diminutiveness, more tweaking would need to be done to the bike than just sliding the boom in. John, who seemed to be in charge of matters mechanical (the J of JD?), suggested short cranks as well for Mrs. Uncle Phil. He even spotted that we were both wearing shoes with SPD cleats, and offered to fit suitable pedals. If we wanted to pop into town and get some lunch for half an hour, the bike would be ready when we got back.
“You’ve got some waterproofs, have you?” asked Jamie, who’d been dealing with us up till then, after he’d recommended a café. Yes, we said confidently, but since it wouldn’t be raining when we got back, we wouldn’t be needing them.
The rain did stop (!) while we were eating, and we emerged to find Ilkley steaming in the sudden sunshine. Back at JD’s, the Pino was ready, with the shortest cranks on the stoker’s end either of us had ever seen. This, however, enabled Mrs Uncle Phil to ride it comfortably. After a little tweaking of the rear saddle height and a few tips on starting and stopping, we set off through the town in the direction of Bolton Abbey.
We had no trouble getting the feel of the Pino, even through the traffic and traffic lights, and were soon belting along the back road. The steering of the Pino is a little odd, probably because of the weight of the stoker over the front wheel. It’s a bit ponderous and it’s best to anticipate changes of direction and make them smoothly: it doesn’t respond well to sudden twitches of the handlebars. The brakes were hydraulic discs: a little grabby for those used to cantis or Vs, (like me!) but very effective. Gears are 27 speed SRAM with twist-grip changers. These and the brake levers are mounted the “wrong” way round on the captain’s handlebars, but this isn’t a problem once you’ve got used to twiddling the twist grips the “wrong” way. (My ‘bent has them this way too, so it was a quick adjustment for me). I was impressed with the tidy chain tubes and brackets, and the rear, crossover chainset includes a freewheel mechanism: the stoker is free to stop pedalling at any time. This also means that if the captain pushes off, the stoker can join in pedalling at their leisure, without having to “catch up” with the pedals. The stoker’s mesh seat needed a bit of tightening up as Mrs Uncle Phil found her bottom bouncing off the boom underneath it until we’d done this. After we’d tightened it, she pronounced it very comfy.
The back road from Ilkley to Bolton Abbey is very pleasant indeed. We found ourselves at Bolton Abbey in no time flat, and carried on along the road to Burnsall. We found that passing drivers were waving and smiling, and Mrs Uncle Phil, having nothing particular to do with her hands, was able to wave back – and signal. We thought that, on a tour, she’d be able to knit as we went along, or read aloud from a book on the dull stretches. Because her head was lower than, but close to mine, we were able to talk to each other without bawling, even when descending hills at speed. This was a definite boon: she doesn’t have the voice of an opera diva or a drill sergeant and she finds having to repeat things as irritating as I find having to say “what? Pardon? Sorry?” all the time on noisy roads. People could also see both our faces as we approached – grinning maniacially I suspect. Anyway, they mostly grinned back.
We stopped for ice cream and photographs in Burnsall...
... and then the climbing started. Some of this was due to a wrong turn, but some was unavoidable. The Pino has the gears for most hills, but I’ll admit one did beat us. This is where we found its only drawback: the stoker’s heels don’t clear the front wheel when it’s turned to a sharp angle – as it will be when you’re crawling up a hill in low gear, wobbling a bit. This is true on many short wheelbase recumbents, but on these, you’re doing the steering, so you know when to cock your heel clear of the wheel. On the Pino, Mrs Uncle Phil couldn’t tell when I was going to turn the steering for another zig-zag or to avoid a pothole, and I clipped her heels two or three times. A very minor drawback, and one that probably wouldn’t happen with a taller stoker, who’d have the boom out further.
The clouds were getting blacker as we returned to Ilkely, but the sunshine persisted and we were still dry and smiling as we pedalled into the courtyard outside the shop. There was a small gaggle of customers there goggling at us – well, the Pino is an unusual sight. For a moment, we thought they were going to applaud.
We had a brief discussion of the Pino’s merits and possible modifications with John, spent some money in the shop, then said our thankyous and headed off for further refreshments. Half an hour later it was thrashing down with rain once more, but we were warm, dry and slightly sunburnt in the van heading back to York.
We enjoyed our spin on the Pino immensely, and I’d like to say a big thankyou to JD Cycles for lending us theirs. (We only realised afterwards that they didn’t take a deposit or any details of who we were – just a name and phone number. We must have honest faces!) Adjusting the bike – extensively – to our needs was not too much trouble, and they sent us off with tools and puncture stuff and even lent us a map. The shop is comprehensively stocked, the workshop clearly knows its stuff, and I’ve never seen so many tandems in one place before. I’d recommend them to anyone.
While we couldn’t honestly say we’d be ordering a Pino in the near future, we’re now much more sure than we had been that we’d like one. And how were we to find that out short of trying one seriously?
You should probably do the same. You’ll enjoy it!
Now, the Pino is a bike Mrs Uncle Phil and I have had our eyes on for some time, as, due to the disparity in our sizes, it’s one of the few tandems we might be able to ride together.
I next found myself chatting to the people from JD Cycles, who I discovered have a shop in Ilkley, not a million miles from York. I wondered if they rented out tandems? Apparently not, but it would be entirely in order for us to borrow one for a day to try it out – just call up and book it. So I did just that a couple of days later. Mrs Uncle Phil has been working away from home, but was due back the weekend I booked: it would be a nice surprise for her.
Come the day we’d planned our tandem ride, it was raining, hard. In fact there was a Severe Weather Warning out. It was still raining when we arrived in Ilkley, but we found that, due to Mrs Uncle Phil’s diminutiveness, more tweaking would need to be done to the bike than just sliding the boom in. John, who seemed to be in charge of matters mechanical (the J of JD?), suggested short cranks as well for Mrs. Uncle Phil. He even spotted that we were both wearing shoes with SPD cleats, and offered to fit suitable pedals. If we wanted to pop into town and get some lunch for half an hour, the bike would be ready when we got back.
“You’ve got some waterproofs, have you?” asked Jamie, who’d been dealing with us up till then, after he’d recommended a café. Yes, we said confidently, but since it wouldn’t be raining when we got back, we wouldn’t be needing them.
The rain did stop (!) while we were eating, and we emerged to find Ilkley steaming in the sudden sunshine. Back at JD’s, the Pino was ready, with the shortest cranks on the stoker’s end either of us had ever seen. This, however, enabled Mrs Uncle Phil to ride it comfortably. After a little tweaking of the rear saddle height and a few tips on starting and stopping, we set off through the town in the direction of Bolton Abbey.
We had no trouble getting the feel of the Pino, even through the traffic and traffic lights, and were soon belting along the back road. The steering of the Pino is a little odd, probably because of the weight of the stoker over the front wheel. It’s a bit ponderous and it’s best to anticipate changes of direction and make them smoothly: it doesn’t respond well to sudden twitches of the handlebars. The brakes were hydraulic discs: a little grabby for those used to cantis or Vs, (like me!) but very effective. Gears are 27 speed SRAM with twist-grip changers. These and the brake levers are mounted the “wrong” way round on the captain’s handlebars, but this isn’t a problem once you’ve got used to twiddling the twist grips the “wrong” way. (My ‘bent has them this way too, so it was a quick adjustment for me). I was impressed with the tidy chain tubes and brackets, and the rear, crossover chainset includes a freewheel mechanism: the stoker is free to stop pedalling at any time. This also means that if the captain pushes off, the stoker can join in pedalling at their leisure, without having to “catch up” with the pedals. The stoker’s mesh seat needed a bit of tightening up as Mrs Uncle Phil found her bottom bouncing off the boom underneath it until we’d done this. After we’d tightened it, she pronounced it very comfy.
The back road from Ilkley to Bolton Abbey is very pleasant indeed. We found ourselves at Bolton Abbey in no time flat, and carried on along the road to Burnsall. We found that passing drivers were waving and smiling, and Mrs Uncle Phil, having nothing particular to do with her hands, was able to wave back – and signal. We thought that, on a tour, she’d be able to knit as we went along, or read aloud from a book on the dull stretches. Because her head was lower than, but close to mine, we were able to talk to each other without bawling, even when descending hills at speed. This was a definite boon: she doesn’t have the voice of an opera diva or a drill sergeant and she finds having to repeat things as irritating as I find having to say “what? Pardon? Sorry?” all the time on noisy roads. People could also see both our faces as we approached – grinning maniacially I suspect. Anyway, they mostly grinned back.
We stopped for ice cream and photographs in Burnsall...
... and then the climbing started. Some of this was due to a wrong turn, but some was unavoidable. The Pino has the gears for most hills, but I’ll admit one did beat us. This is where we found its only drawback: the stoker’s heels don’t clear the front wheel when it’s turned to a sharp angle – as it will be when you’re crawling up a hill in low gear, wobbling a bit. This is true on many short wheelbase recumbents, but on these, you’re doing the steering, so you know when to cock your heel clear of the wheel. On the Pino, Mrs Uncle Phil couldn’t tell when I was going to turn the steering for another zig-zag or to avoid a pothole, and I clipped her heels two or three times. A very minor drawback, and one that probably wouldn’t happen with a taller stoker, who’d have the boom out further.
The clouds were getting blacker as we returned to Ilkely, but the sunshine persisted and we were still dry and smiling as we pedalled into the courtyard outside the shop. There was a small gaggle of customers there goggling at us – well, the Pino is an unusual sight. For a moment, we thought they were going to applaud.
We had a brief discussion of the Pino’s merits and possible modifications with John, spent some money in the shop, then said our thankyous and headed off for further refreshments. Half an hour later it was thrashing down with rain once more, but we were warm, dry and slightly sunburnt in the van heading back to York.
We enjoyed our spin on the Pino immensely, and I’d like to say a big thankyou to JD Cycles for lending us theirs. (We only realised afterwards that they didn’t take a deposit or any details of who we were – just a name and phone number. We must have honest faces!) Adjusting the bike – extensively – to our needs was not too much trouble, and they sent us off with tools and puncture stuff and even lent us a map. The shop is comprehensively stocked, the workshop clearly knows its stuff, and I’ve never seen so many tandems in one place before. I’d recommend them to anyone.
While we couldn’t honestly say we’d be ordering a Pino in the near future, we’re now much more sure than we had been that we’d like one. And how were we to find that out short of trying one seriously?
You should probably do the same. You’ll enjoy it!
