Homebuilding a Tandem
by Sheldon "You Can Build One Of Those!" Brown
Some other Homebuilts
John Allen | Anonymous | Guy Bouchard | Matt O'Keefe | Carl Robinson
"Here is a picture of our tandem we built with the help of your article. We used two old mountain bike frames with 4130 main tubes. I also used the top tube from a Raleigh rod brake roadster for the bottom tube."
"The right side drive works very well. I originally used an old but new condition Shimano GT300 long cage derailer, but it did not shift very easily. I replaced it with an RSX and together with the HG 90 cassette and the non-indexed suntour barends shifting is very good. My son Dylan and I have put about 300 miles on it so far and are planning to take the tandem on Bike Virginia in June."
This is the same drive setup suggested by John Allen in his Tandem Drive Train article.
In real life, Matt works for Seven Cycles, and threw this cruiser together just for fun.
This is a fine example of the "phantom chainring" solution to the chain tensioner problem.
Here's a triplet I saw at the Larz Anderson Museum bike show in August, 1998.
Unfortunately, I've misplaced the name and address of the builder, who, if memory serves, was from New Hampshire.
I built this tandem with help from my wife's father. I designed, filed and make it straight. He brazed everything together. I know how to braze but i am not as good at it as him.
We took 2 mid-level cromoly MTB frames. The front one is a 22 inch, and the rear is 20 inch. Using Sheldon's method, we put the bottom brackets at the same height (more or less 1/4 inch). Instead of using chainstay (I used them to made a BOB-copy-trailer) we braze a 1.5 inch steel boom tube. The bike is really rigid almost like a real tandem.
I ride it with my wife and all seems to be ok. The handling is special since head angle is 71 degree. Most tandem have 73 degree head angle with lot of fork rake. My home made tandem is more sensitive than a regular one but nothing I can't live with.
Here are the full specs (May change anytime for better or worse!):
- Crankset: Single side drive. RSX triple in the rear. Rings are 26-38-50. The 4th syncronizing gear is a 42 teeth with spacer and Racing triple boltset. Front crankset is an old Shimano 300 LX with 42 teeth gear.
- Cassette: 11-30 7 speed with a 26 teeth added (Give me 8 cogs in rear)
- Tensioner: Aluminum bracket with height adjustable derailler pulley [this looks a bit flimsy to me...when the snow melts, I guess we'll see how well it holds up. --Sheldon]
- Bottom brackets: Tange sealed cartridge
- Lighting: Union generator + Soubitez halogen headlight
- Rear derailler: Suntour XC-LTD
- Shifters: Suntour XC-PRO thumbshifters
- Brakes: SRAM 5.0 V-brakes
- Lever: No-name aluminum V-brake compatible
- Drag brake: Shimano Nexave rear drum connected to a thumbshifter in front
- Rims: Alesa Sputnik 36 holes
- Front hub: Shimano STX-RC
- Rear hub: Shimano Nexave drum brake compatible
- Tires: Ritchey Tom Slick 1.4
- Rear seatpost: Suspension seatpost
- Fenders: Esge
Special thanks to Sheldon Brown and John Allen.
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