I'm a tandem novice, but that didn't stop me from wanting my son to be able to ride with me on our new bike. I'm writing to tell about what I've done, what I want to do, and what I had to do over. I started this project with a lot of enthusiasm, spurred on by Josh constantly asking if "the tandem is ready yet." I cannot state emphatically enough that I could not have finished this project without the advice and patience of Mark at Precision Tandems and numerous contributors to Tandem @ Hobbes and the Internet BOB e-mail lists. I'm writing this in February, 2002.
Please note that I am experimenting with style sheets. If this page looks yucky please e-mail me and let me know why. This is a work in progress.
The riders: I'm in my mid-thirties and a regular cyclist. Compared to many, I don't ride a lot of miles on an annual basis but I do ride regularly (several times a week if possible) - often on a fixed gear. Joshua turned four at the end of 2001 and has been riding in a trailer (Winchester) for almost three years. He has been riding a tricycle since he turned three and his Murray 'Blast Off' since his fourth birthday, with training wheels. I decided to get the stoker kit after seeing how strong he was riding on his single. When I told him we were going to fix the tandem so he could ride, too he became very, very excited.
Da bike: 2000 Meridian Quest, bought new in 2001. Outfitted with road bars / STI and road tires on it's 26" wheels. I wanted something I couldn't break easily, and I got it. The captain saddle is a Brooks B-17, one of the "Bridgestone Owners Bunch" saddles I bought years ago. I'd like to put a sprung Brooks in the back to help my stoker over bumps. I also play with pedal combinations on the tandem, I didn't like the old SPD's that I had on the bike at first so I've reverted to clips / straps (currently Shimano 600's) but might go to Speedplay Frogs in the future. Josh has some old toe-clip pedals that have Santana straps on them.
This project began with a very lightly used Stokid bottom bracket I bought from another T@H member. It turns out that was the easiest and probably cheapest part of the whole deal.
Stoker Kit: When mounting the Stokid bracket (which came from another Meridian owner) I realized that my seat tube must have been bigger than the last one it was on, since the nylon bushing didn't fit. I used a piece of innertube to fill the gap and protect the paint. (later on I realized that this was a mistake and the shim fit after all. I blame it on the glasses). The next thing I realized was that the chainring (which came with the stokid unit) had a different bolt pattern than my cranks (130 instead of the necessary 110). I ordered a new ring from my LBS, and while I was waiting for it to arrive I tinkered with the handlebars.
It was apparent when perching Josh on the stoker seat that the reach to the handlebars was too long and his seat too far back in relation to the kiddie cranks. From Precision Tandems (see link below) I purchased a 29.8 seatpost to act as a handlebar extension, a "kid size" drop bar, and a 1.25" stem to connect the two. I also purchased a generic seatpost to hold Josh's seat which could be turned around backward. For now, Josh is sitting on the captain's seat that came with the tandem. This allowed me to push his seat forward so he had a better angle to the cranks. For anyone concerned about "Q" factor on these Stokid cranks, my setup is narrower than Josh's Toys R Us bike for sure.
The 29.8 seatpost fit perfectly into my existing extendable stoker stem holder. At the back end of the seatpost is where a 1.25" stem is used to connect it with the handlebar. I'll be fiddling with the handlebar alignment over a few rides to get it where Josh likes it (and he isn't afraid to express his opinion). Seat height set roughly using the formula Mark gives on one of his pages: stand the child against the wall without shoes on, slide a book up between you legs and measure the height. Multiply this number by 0.85 to see how far above the Stokid bracket the seat should be. Josh's inseam is 16 inches so we set it 13 1/2 inches higher, we'll adjust if needed. Since Josh is older and rides a bike on his own I didn't feel a seatback or seatbelt was necessary.
Visiting bike shops in town I scrounged for chainring bolts, bar tape for Josh, plus some odds and ends. Spacers for the chainrings had to be ordered. Bar tape was needed for Josh's handlebars.
I spent a bit of time fretting about chainline between the Stokid cranks and the timing ring. When I first mounted everything on the bike, it looked like the timing ring was way outboard of the Stokid crank. (by this I mean the lower chainring was further away from the centerline of the bike than the chainring attached to the kiddie cranks themselves). Since my bike is aluminum (meaning fat tubes) and a mountain style frame it seemed to have an unusually wide stoker spindle. I have read other folks say that they couldn't put the stokid timing ring inside of their regular timing rings since there wasn't room. Well, there's plenty of room on mine (a half inch or so before the ring would hit the chainstay. Because of this I worried a lot that the chain would bind or de-rail. I asked a lot of people on-line about it and read up on the archives. In the end, I just put the chain on and it worked. Pretty simple. I did add some 2 mm spacers between the crank spider and the stokid timing ring. There's room for more but this keeps the two chains from rubbing together and improves the chainline ever so slightly.
In a nutshell, I figured out (with support from the good folks at Tandem@Hobbes (e-mail list, see http://home.att.net/~thetandemlink/hobbes.html if you aren't sure about it) and especially Mark at Precision Tandems (http://www.precisiontandems.com) how to put everything together. I've since discovered a page (part of Mark's set of articles at Precision) that details step by step pretty much what I did (only I did it in a more roundabout way): http://www.precisiontandems.com/artkidbackinstall.htm
Final parts list:
Pictures: On most of these you can click to see a bigger picture.
The finished bike looks like this:
Here is a picture comparing the original stoker handlebar setup and Josh's new one. The handlebars were later adjusted for position:
You may note the extra long stem on Josh's handlebar. I actually purchased the stem for my end of the bike, since I want to get the handlebars a bit higher. Alas, when I went to install it, I realized I needed new brake cables and gear shift cables, since they were all trimmed to fit my existing, shorter stem. But that little project is going to wait a while (I've spent way too much bike money already this winter), and for now we make do as is. Maybe that will be a March or April project.
Josh advising Koty on how to ride in the trailer (it was his first time):
Koty getting ready to ride:
Brian and Josh getting ready:
Bike plus trailer (how long is it? Well, that's a personal question. OK, 11.5 feet):
Rides: The main use of the bike will be to get father and son out of the house to keep mom's sanity. Secondary uses will be to run errands (groceries, books, ice cream). We'll visit lots of local attractions (the park, the grocery store, radio shack, the park, the ice cream store, the book store, etc). The same as we did before, but now Josh will be part of the drivetrain instead of just a passenger. I plan on taking the trailer along for any ride over a couple of miles from the house so if Josh gets tired he can rest. At this point he still takes naps most days, so it's possible that he could want a break from riding behind Dad (especially if we stop for Tex-Mex). I hope to have some ride stories soon. If we do well, I hope to go on an organized ride or two as well.
The Future: My "to buy" list has jerseys for the whole family and possibly some bike shorts for Josh. Josh is really into cycling and wants to be like dad in too many ways, much to his mother's dismay - the last thing she wanted was another bike nut in her house. Eventually the tandem may grow fenders, a rack or bag of some sort, lights, communications, etc., but right now we'll stick to fair weather riding.
Links:
Tandem @ Hobbes, a splendid e-mail list for anything tandem
Precision Tandems, which has just about anything you could want to get for your tandem. (please tell Mark and Sue I said hello)
Meridian Tandems, where my bike was born.
The Tandem Link, Mark Livingood has a huge set of bookmarks and information about tandems, clubs, rides, etc.