For The Love of Bikes- restoring a 1960's tandem in a week

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.

Progress is going pretty well given that I got shipped to London for the last two days for work.

I’ve rubbed down and started shining up the major components, which I knew would be the most time consuming bit.

The smaller components are being treated to some Hammerite rust remover gel, which is essentially flubber.

I have also gone about polishing the frame and restoring the saddles.

OMG I’ve got a semi-on. Keep the pics coming

Great project! Isn’t polishing the metal parts woman’s work?

Ooooh. I like an interesting project, good luck getting it done in a week…

Neil, despite this being her idea she has said she will do none of the work!

Seems the rust remover is pretty good.

Brilliant, I want a tandem, but my argumentative wife says no 😉

Great stuff Luke.
Keep the updates coming.

Like, keep it coming!

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.

There are a few vintage bike clubs who will be able to advise.

That looks a nice piece of kit. You MAY struggle with brake drop if you can’t get 27″ wheels in there and have to go to 700.

Also hub spacing likely to be narrower than current frames so be conscious of that too.

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…

You might find that’s much older than you think – looks very similar to our Charter Lea Ladyback.

Drop out looks like it’s been retro-fitted from a track-end?

Got any pics of the bottom bracket area?

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…

(looking forward to being shot down in flames)

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.

http://velobase.com/ViewGroup.aspx?GroupID=a5cf3c9b-0e34-4dea-acef-552965141aa5

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.

Looks like a fun project 😀 I used to have a 1960s Claude Butler tandem which was a bit of a rust bucket but was a great fun to ride.

munrobiker – Member
…I am prepared to be absolutely terrified of the brakes.

Looks like fun.

If the brakes are a problem, don’t forget that you can fit drum brakes. Work much better than 1950s callipers.

more photos required!

Does look fun, how’s progress though? we’re on Thursday already…

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.

Good levers are definitely lacking here too.

I have used every detailing product I have on the frame. The paint is a bit too shot for it to look good but it is much improved.

Here are the BB photos.

And the first part to go back on, the rear mech.

Enjoying watching the progress on this.

This is another of those threads where we need a “Like” button! Top work!

CaptainFlashheart – Member
This is another of those threads where we need a “Like” button! Top work!

+1 🙂

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.

Bookmarked.

Good thread this
🙂

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.

I thought this would be quite handy for my retro build Modern brake to old fork converter bolt

Edit – didn’t spot you’ve got cantis!

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 🙂

I found plenty of old Maillard 120mm hubs on fleabay. They build up into nice wheels. Much cheapness.

It is good- I saw it on the shelf in Halfords when I was picking up some steel wool and inner tubes and thought why not?

It’s starting to resemble a bike again now!

It’s the wheel building i have the issue with. The wheels on the puch have relatively good hubs, but the rim is like a pringle.

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.

You’ll be the belles of the ball. Enjoy the day and report back.

You’ve done a nice job of cleaning that up in just a week.

A good week’s work.

Chapeau sir