Hi All,

Just got an old Dawes ‘Back street’ tandem from Ebay. All good on our first ride, apart from the forks which seem a little weedy/flexy, given that they have to cope with nearly 400lbs of pure muscle* aboard.

As we are thinking of touring on it the all-up weight will be even greater, so should I replace the fork with something a bit stronger or just MTFU and accept the OE fork. (Headset is 1″ BTW, so would probably have to get something made to order…)

Any suggestions?

*This might not be true.

Dawes are generally well made so the OE fork should be enough. the two usual tandem shops I know of have nothing – sjs and JD cycles.

try the tandem club boards perhaps?

Is it steel? You could get a 1.5″ head tube welded on and get some proper forks on there! 😀

There’s a US forum, double forte at yahoo groups, you could try asking for advice there.

It’ll be fine. Sure it’s the forks flexing not the wheels? Are they large flange hubs? 36 spokes or more?

As above. I’d get the wheels re-tensioned and see if it feels a bit better then. Nowt wrong with a bit of spring in the fork!

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

The frame is steel (Reynolds 501) and I did wonder about getting the head tube changed to 1 1/8 (or even 1.5!), but I suspect I could probably buy a more modern tandem from ‘The Bay’ for less money!

(I have read about 1″ tandem forks snapping at the base of the steerer tube, hence my concern. I suppose on reflection I should have done my research BEFORE bidding!)

Could be the wheels as they are 700c on what appear to be standard hubs…

I have had 2 road bike tandems with skinny 1 inch forks and not had any problems

I have two Dawes tandems, one 531 Super Galaxy with a 1″ steerer. Never had a problem. the other is a heavier generic steel. Flex of the forks is fine. It is steel after all. I suspect the wheels.