Next weekend I’m off to the L’Eroica Britannia do in Bakewell with some friends. When my parents moved into their house in the mid 80s there was a twenty year old tandem in the cellar and my wife has asked if I can do it up for us to ride there on- the ride is about 7 miles.
This is the bike. As far as we can tell it was made in London in the 60s, probably custom made, and is quite high end. It has Campag Record gears, Mafac brakes, Williams cranks and 5 gears.
It won’t be a full greound up restoration and apart from the she wheels, which are shot, and consumables like cables and chains I will be trying to keep all the parts present. I don’t think I would be able to find a t shaped 22.2mm seastpost in a week anyway!
The paint won’t be getting touched, money is too tight to give it the job it deserves so rather than hash it up I will leave it for another time. I’ll update this thread over the week and who knows, maybe it will be roadworthy in a week. By the end of today the bike was completely stripped (nothing was seized apart from the cotter pins!) And everything washed to assess the state of everything under the dust.
Wittcome cycles is still going but moved out of deptford about 5 years ago. I think Barry wittcome was still building up until that time. You might be able to get some more information or them if you give them a ring.
I have acquired an old bike with good wheels for £20 that will do for now.
I tried speaking to them about this but they were planning on moving into a factory and becoming the world’s biggest bike builder. Then they disappeared off the face of the earth…
Don’t expect it to be anything more than a labour of love. Old tandems are generally rubbish and that’s a particularly gruesome design. Doubt it’s old enough to be of historic interest either. If you want something to ride, you’d be better off buying one. Sorry to be a wet blanket, but it’s the rough equivalent of finding a rusty tesco special in a skip and doing it up…
I’ll get some photos of it around there tonight. It’s got a really satisfying looking EBB up front.
The earliest it could be if the rear mech, the only part I know much about, is original is 1963, latest around 1965 when they started to use teeth on the jockey wheels.
It can’t be any older than 1949, and there’s nothing in the design of it to suggest it’s that old.
Thecaptain- it’s not cost us anything, and I doubt we’ll really use it. Buying a new tandem would cost hundreds. And this is really for a one off event.
I am prepared to be absolutely terrified of the brakes.
brilliant thread 🙂 I have had old steel bikes and I’ve found that once you start updating bits it very quickly becomes an expensive rebuild because nothing matches, so leaving everything the same is the way to go
Epicyclo- I will be sticking with the original brakes because the original hubs, once I get them re-rimmed, are really pretty nice.
Grenosteve- a few hours polishing tonight will see everything ready to put together tomorrow evening. I’ll update with some photos of where I am now when I get home, then some more before bedtime.
following with interest as have done similar.
biggest pain though was brakes, no braze ons meant spending ages finding a cheap new drum brake hub…complete waste of time, using my foot would be more effective.
You seem to have canti studs on there so no problem.
Looks like it’s already running 700c wheels?
Good luck.
jimfrandisco – Member
…no braze ons meant spending ages finding a cheap new drum brake hub…complete waste of time, using my foot would be more effective…
The only drum I’d stick on the front of a tandem would be the Sturmey-Archer XL-FD.
They need good cables and levers to work properly.
damn. wish i’d kept mine the colour it was and polished it up – instead i got a very cheap powdercoat job that came out mint green…not quite the classic racing green i was hoping for.
Purple looks great.
Edit, Tim at future cycles in Leicester keeps quite a few vintage parts he salvages off old bikes, give him a call if you’re struggling to find anything.
Great work. Personally I would replace the front set of handlebars if they are aluminium (can;t quite tell from the pics). A friend did up a nice old bike and then hit the deck in traffic when the handlebar sheared…
Everything on it is steel. Everything. You can only imagine the weight…
jimfrandisco- That’s what I want to avoid, when I do get around to repainting it it will probably have to be done by Argos or someone similar, not least to get the exact colour back and to ensure it gets the correct decals and badges.
Good bit of inspiration this. I’m about to finally get around to doing up a 1960’s Puch for a mate of mine.
Just need to find him some 120mm OLD wheels and i’ll be set fair
Also i never knew about that rust removing gunk. Just ordered some 🙂
And here we go! Taken it for a spin and the ride is definitely interesting- braking has to be planned a long way ahead and the position is bizarre- very tall and very short. Gearing is also lacking but manageable with two people’s grunt. Everything has been checked and re-checked for tightness and not-falling-offability and it seems good.