Frankentandem

The bike came out of the shop today and we took it for it's first test spin.

I spent the first 30mins playing with the new toys, adjusting the levers, tweaking the shocks and admiring the new height in the bars. Wow, comfortable riding at long last! The new bar height (for me) puts the centre of gravity in a more comfortable and stable position, so handling should improve.

I was initially cautious about how the suspension would feel as we cornered on the road. Turned out, it handled sweet. The new Fox Talas 36 forks have adjustable rebound, so can still absorb the bumps without bouncing us around the corners.

So, into the saddle and we hit the road, the kerb, the grass, the hillocks, the bumps and lumps of the surrounding streets and were happy with the feel. We headed to our shortcut road to the river as its several k's of corrugated gravel road which on our last visit was rutted and knee deep in loose gravel. A perfect test.

Shox set to 100mm and full bounce and we were off. Crikey! We now roll over the rocks, ruts and gravel nice and smooth. As we headed down the road I tried out various rough surfaces and gravel pools, and the tandem went through them with ease. And it was so much easier to steer too.

At the riverbank, I cranked the puppies up to 160mm and we hit as many rough and deadly surfaces as we could on the way back. All of it was handled perfectly. Deep gravel slowed us down, but we no longer plowed through it, we roll over it. Corrugation that almost shook my helmet off my head was now just some minor bumps easily ridden over. The large mounds of gravel were crested simply, the rocks were bounced over, the ruts ridden out of, all of it was so much less stressful. I'm 10x more confident on this bike now, so look out!

As well as the new shox, we have hydraulic disk brakes. While they are not perfectly adjusted yet, they are leaps and bounds ahead of the old v-brakes! They will be a great asset on the downhill tracks and high speed descents we're planning on. Big disks means big stopping power, especially with these Saints, so I'm looking forward to practising some mad skidz in the near future.

Also, new gears and chain rings, so shifting gears is now reliable, quiet and quick. And I don't think we're gonna be able to bend these chainrings, they look like they can withstand the awesome power of the both of us with ease. They are a little 'grabby' still, but a few hundred k's under the wheels and they will relax a bit I'm sure.

Wheels, oh yea, big buggers on there now. Kevlar tyres, thornproof tubes, 20mm axles, 36hole DMR hubs & Mavic rims, these puppies are more like 4x4 wheels than bike wheels. Big, beefy, slow, but nothing is going to stop them.

Last major change is to the pedals. We're now out of sync. This feels the same on the flats, but I noticed it on the tiny hill we did. Weird man! We'll do more hills and see if it's a good idea for climbing. (good idea = easier for me!) Logan's stroke is 1/6th ahead of mine, so hopefully he'll have to work harder and I can concentrate on the steering.

Ride #1 is complete, ride #2 on Thursday. I'll get some photos of this build before we manage to coat the entire bike in mud, sand, pine needles, gravel, tar, grass, sheep poo, bugs and other wonders of the world out there in the trails. It's just over 7 weeks till 'the rage' so we have some practice to get in!

Rage upon the machine

Logan has registered us for the Rainbow Rage on March 21st. That's just over 2 months away, so we've been trying to put a few more k's under the wheels.

We did a quick lap of Bottle Lake earlier in the week, taking in the right side track up to the beach, then followed the Pegasus track to Spencer Park, then more single track back to the carpark. We did a majority of it in a single gear as we are again having issues with the rear derailleur which ain't worth fixing when it's going to be replaced in a week. Lap time was 50 minutes, and that was without trying too hard, taking it fairly easy except for the 40kph+ sprint down the final dark straight.

So tonight we did an old ride we have neglected for a while. I arrived at Logan's just before 6pm and we headed off to the secret shortcut (longcut?) along the riverbanks to McLeans Island. Wow. Someone must really hate cyclists as they have made a slightly uncomfortable ride a scary, hard, dangerous and difficult one. All it took was a few hundred thousand tons of gravel and the ability to place it where it will be easy to drive over yet nearly impossible to ride through. Many places on the road and stopbank have deep wheel ruts which are packed solid and easy to ride, except they are now full of loose gravel, making them ticking bombs ready to swallow your front wheel without warning. Many close calls, slow speeds and hard grinding (damn gears!) and we arrived at McLeans Island and got ready for a lap. We haven't done it for ages, so set off at a good pace, but not pushing hard. The track is still in good condition and we knocked it off in 31mins which is our best time yet. We must be getting better at this thing! We tackled the gravel death pits on the way back and made it home with just over 45km on the clock. Not bad for an evening ride.

Now, we have two plans afoot. We have to test the new gear out (especially the front suspension) once the bike is ready, starting at Bottle Lake, progressing to McLeans Island and then giving Kennedys and/or Rapaki a crack. The other task is the skid training on a grassy bank somewhere. Tail-whips on a tandem is going to be a chaotic mix of pain and hilarity. A potential location has been found, but we might need to do some vodka shots before we give it the first serious crack!

So, with a bit of luck, the bike goes in the shop tomorrow, and comes out all covered in bling about a week later. We'll be faster, stronger, leaner and meaner! Watch out if you see us coming because even tho we'll have nice new hydraulic brakes, we won't be stopping for anyone or anything!

Just a frame...

Many people have been asking me about what upgrades we plan on doing to the bike to address the breakages we've been experiencing.
 
Realistically the breakages are a combination of several factors, the principle ones being:
 
1. A tandem bike that was not initially kitted out for true off-road cycling.
and...
2. Components that were not designed to manage the load generated by two riders with a combined weight of nearly 200kgs.
 
With this in mind we've taken some time to consider what our intentions are... what others riding tandems say and then to add to that the advice of the guys at PushBikes Papanui... and we've come up with the following upgrades!
 
Forks: Fox Talas 36 
Brakes: Shimano Saint (Hydraulic) front and rear 
Hubs: DMR 36 hole 20mm through axel front, quick release rear 
Rims: Mavic 729 36 hole 
Tyres: Maxxis Kevlar 
Tube: Maxxis Thorn proof 
Shifters: Shimano XT 
Rear Derailleur: Shimano XT 
Front Derailleur: Shimano XT 
 
Additionally, there will be a new rear cassette, two new chains (one timing and one drive) and new cabling for the gearing.... 

Cranks for a Tandem are a bit of a tricky one at the moment but these will be upgraded as soon as we can get some tandem specific ones!! 

Maybe the shorter answer would have been "We're keeping the frame...the rest is being changed!!"

Feel free to give us your thoughts or comments on this stuff... we're always happy to hear from you.

Mad dogs & blind men

Some have noted that it's been quiet on the tandem lately. This is true... While we had plans of many rides during the holidays, Logan ended up with a dose of the black death, and I just sat at home and watched telly, ate & drank too much, and avoided sunshine as best I could. As a result, our first ride of the year yesterday was long overdue, but also a good reminder that Christmas pudding is easy to eat, but harder to burn off. And we won't mention the beer, wine & cocktails consumed over that time either!

In the heat of the afternoon we headed out to Bottle Lake for a quick couple of laps, taking in as much singletrack as possible. We're getting quite good at this now, and there's only 3 sections of the entire forest we have not as yet tackled on the tandem. On this occasion, we took on the new hill section, including the high-speed downhill bit. Man, I had almost forgotten how fast that tandem can go downhill! We bumped into another tandem in the forest too, another fully ridgid beast which had just tackled the bumpest section of the track that I avoid. A quick chat then back on track so I could get an icecream from the mobile cafe by the carpark before we did the second lap.

About a month ago, Logan secured a set of Avid BB5's and I slapped them on the front. As they are cable, not hydraulic (like mine), it took a while before my brain fully engaged and I got them set correctly. We tested on road, then on track, then on the Rapaki track, and yesterday we tested through a massive amount of puddles, and they kept on stopping us as and when required! It was quite odd, being that it was such a hot day, to be riding through so many puddles, and even weirder that they were so warm. The 2 hours of rain on the Sat that disrupted the cricket had all dried up off the track, except about 50 massive puddles. We managed to go through almost all of them.

On the broken bits & upgrades front, the bike is due in the shop sometime very soon and will emerge with a new wheelset, hydraulic disk brakes, new forks with suspension and other bits & bobs as well. I can't wait! It won't make riding up hills any easier, but will sure make going down them more fun, and faster too! Logan has been chatting to someone about a new paint job even - more news on that when it's all confirmed.

Next big event is the Rainbow Rage in March. Logan is stretching his hamstrings, I'm practising riding up hills (honest!) and we'll be fighting fit and ready for it when the day arrives. It's funny, but the more I think about it, the less concerned I am about the 106km we need to ride, and the more concerned I get about the last 100m with the downhill s-bend and narrow offset bridge just before the finish line. I'm sure it was pure luck that got us across it last time, but this time?

And skills training. This is where it gets funny and possibly painful. Logan wants to try some of the more technical downhill tracks, you know, the ones with the switchbacks. So we're going to find a nice gently sloping grassy knoll to practice some tail-whip 180° turns. On a tandem, this involves cutting the front wheel into the corner first, locking the rear wheel so the stoker skids around, then timing the release of the brakes and peddling just right so they don't fly off down the hill or end up lodged in the bank somewhere. I think we'll need a video of this training, it should be hilarious!