I've been a bit busy today trying to build up the bike . I started off by trying to fit an inner tube and tyre to the rear wheel . It was a struggle ! I ended up using some washing up liquid and a motorcycle tyre lever to lever it on .
The next thing was trying to find where I had put things . 2 pairs of handlebars should be easy enough to find I thought ! A little while later I found them. They were buried under some other useful stuff.
I had fitted both cranks the other day, I had used recycled some old BB bearings for the time being . I was getting a bit impatient and wanted to see how it looked when built up . I had only seen it briefly in its built up state before dismantling it .
I thought I would start with the front section first with the bars, levers and then the wheel. Fitting the cables was next, and these were very stiff. Some drops of 3 in 1 on the cable and some manipulation had them working . The rear brake cable screws into a bracket fitted underneath the frame and has 2 threaded rods which screw into the end of the cable . Using one or two rods depending on which version of the bike you require .
Once I had built up the front section I could start on the rear . All I needed to do was to bolt in the rear wheel and then I could assemble the tandem . I'm getting better at connecting the two halves together now. It is a bit awkward trying to balance the rear section whilst you slide the front section in , but it is a lot better now the frame has been adjusted.
This is as far as I got to this afternoon . The bike is looking a lot better than when I first picked it up . I will need to get some chains so that i can try it out .
As regards to how many of these tandems exist I can only identify 5 on the internet. The blue and black one in the Coventry Transport Museum, a grey metallic one which was for sale a few years ago, an orange and white one with drop handlebars, an identical one to mine was for sale on Gumtree and mine was also on Gumtree.
