New bits,clean up and service!

Got some new schwalbe marathon tyres

Some brake boosters and koolstop eagle brake blocks

And generally tidied up and seeviced.

Cant wait to go for a ride!

Pannier racks on the front!

fitted some CL-1 blackburn lowriders to the front of the tandem. it was a bit of a hack to get them on but jubilee clips made it possible. once i got them on we stuffed all the bags with clothes, filled up 4 water bottles and went out for a ride! pretty nervous, it was a bit different to ridding without the weight and we really noticed it going uphill. on a positive note it was really stable at speed on the downhill. also the shiny new bottle cages looked nice!

St David's day ride

We went out for our first day trip today. We've been looking at maps for a while trying to decide on a good route and finally decided on a trip to the National Botanical Gardens, which was about 40km all in all. Most of the route was on cycle route 47, generally quiet lanes but some dedicated cycle paths. We set out about twelve ish and arrived about an hour an a half later. Most of the way was pretty smooth and quiet but we did need to dismount to get through some of the gates on the cycle path. We made good speed on the way and broke the 60kmh target on one of the descents. When  we arrived we changed locked up the bike and headed to the gardens. we realised that we probobly could have done with more clothes! schoolboy error! the gardens were interesting though probably not at thier best (no spring growth) but entry was free for saint davids day. had a coffee and a cake in the big greenhouse and decided to head home. when we got back to the bike we realised that our cycle clothes were still damp: another lesson learned! got home in just over an hour. very enjoyable day out, plenty of lessons learned and a hunger for more!

New Bar Tape!

Bought some new bar tape to replace the old petrified stuff. Deda Elementi perforated bar tape is what i use on my road bike and naturally equipped the tandem with it too! far more comfortable and looks much nicer.
we had a much longer ride today (around 20 mile). Everything was much smoother, got up some speed and felt more comfortable in general. Maybee a cycle computer next!

Second Run!

Went out this weekend for a longer run. Pumped up the tires to 90psi although the maximum rated is 70psi. apparently the tire is easily capable of handling this, and the tandem requires the higher pressure. Stasrting and stopping was much better than last week and we started properly using the drag brake which is really useful!
Can't wait till our next venture!

We bought a tandem!

After a couple of years of scouring ebay we've finally taken the plunge and bought our very own tandem. It's a '97 Dawes Galaxy Twin, with Reynold's steel tubing and Shimano Deore LX derailliers. We picked it up from the seller and managed to squeeze it into the back of our Renault Clio. And here it is!

Included with the bike were Pannier bags a top bag and a handlebar bag.

After getting it home, out of the car and reassembled, we couldn't quite resist a  quick ride despite it being pitch black outside. Not being able to see much limited us to cycling up and down the driveway, but have ventured a little further today. We've just about mastered starting off without too much wobble and got into a good rhythm quickly. Having spent only a few hours on a tandem in the past we felt quite proud of ourselves. Cornering however, may take a little more time to master! Had some fun trying out the drag brake, which was really effective and made some the hills a little less scary. Have already started planning some improvements we can make, quite keen to get some leather saddles and maybe some matching bar-tape, and a few adjustments to the position of the handlebars and saddles. Other than that there's not much that needs any work. The bike itself is in really good condition and looks like it has hardly been used. Looking forward to getting some miles in!