Michael and Patrick, Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. My son and I just completed our first one hour ride on the trail at Shoreline Park and things got smoother and smoother as the ride progressed. We both loved it and discovered quite a number of subtleties to continue working on.
Michael, that chainring in the middle of the timing chain is genius! Like an act of magic! Thanks again! René On Sun, Jun 4, 2017 at 12:41 PM Michael Hechmer <mhech...@gmail.com> wrote: > Congratulations and welcome to the world of tandemming. You have a pretty > bike. Don't get up tight with it; things will get easier as you relax into > it. > > Here's a tip I use for keeping the timing chain adjusted. Our Bilenky is > a very long custom, with a very long stoker TT which puts the timing chain > adjustment between links, much as you described. I put an old, 50 tooth > chainring in the middle of the timing chain and then tighten the eccentric > around it. Since ours bike has couplers it's important to be able to get > the timing chain off easily and quickly. The extra chainring simply spins > in place, when it's not starting conversations with curious strangers. > > I don't want to start a war on the RBW list but there's one compelling > reason for using either straps or clips on a tandem. If one rider looses > contact with the pedal, e.g, from hitting a pot hole, then the other rider > will keep pedaling which will bring the crank arm around and whack an ankle > until their back in place. As you can see from the picture my wife prefers > straps & sneakers; I go with Frogs and Austin pedlars, which look like > shoes and allow me to walk around & clip in quickly. > > We tour with our bike & more than once we have had crowds gather to watch > how two people, four paniers, and two HB bags get going. Easy. Pat sits > in, straps her feet, lowers the left pedal & tells me she's ready. I clip > in my left foot & say "UP", she lifts the pedals ( and usually asks me if > the brakes are on) I say "Away" and push off with my right foot as we push > down with the left. I clip in on the right and away we go. > > BTW, people have been asking about tires. We really like the Compass > Slumgullion Pass. at 45 MM they are cushy on the dirt roads, fast on > pavement, and quiet all the time. > > Michael > > On Sunday, June 4, 2017 at 12:29:18 PM UTC-4, René wrote: > >> After being away for two weeks for work and waiting for parts, the >> Hubbuhubbuh is finally finished! >> >> https://flic.kr/p/Vpyjod - keep scrolling. >> >> I still want to add Fenders, and the front one will be Rinkoed, but I >> need more time for that. In the meantime, it's ready to roll and start us >> on the tandem riding learning curve. >> >> First maiden ride was with my son, and it quickly highlighted the fact >> that we do need to learn how to coordinate our action and do the team >> dance. Very short maiden ride in front of the house, and by the end things >> were much improved. I still was petrified to take my hands off the grips, >> no shifts were done, starting and stopping successful but not smooth yet. >> >> It has made me realize that he and I need to practice plenty before I'm >> comfortable enough to try to go for a try with my wife. I don't think it's >> going to take long, but it's going to take some work for sure. Tandem >> riding seems to be an exhilarating experience, it just adds another >> dimension to the experience of riding a bike. >> >> I'm very happy I followed my "gut" and ordered the Hubbuhubbuh when >> announced. If you're thinking about getting one on the next order, do so. >> It's a whole new experience. >> >> A few notes: >> >> - The recommendation to use the Spar Urethane for the cork grips was >> excellent. I really like how they turned out after three coats. Beautiful, >> very smooth and great feeling when holding them. >> >> - On my frame, it seems the disc brake tab is not perfectly parallel to >> the disc rotor. I swapped the Paul disc brake that like most mechanical >> disc brakes only has one piston on the outside which would run the rotor a >> lot, with a TRP Spyke mechanical disc brake which has pistons on both >> sides, and after adjusting it, almost all of the ribbing was removed, with >> the wheel spinning freely. I'm sure the little rubbing that remains will >> disappear once I brake-in the pads and rotor, but I'm going to explore how >> difficult it would be to straighten that tab, or what can be done about it. >> I have a lot of experience with disc brakes on my mountain bikes, but have >> never had to deal with this issue before. >> >> - I tried to use a quick link on the timing chain with the idea that it >> would make it easy to open the chain to try different front/back pedal >> positions, but found that it didn't allow me to get the proper chain >> tension, essentially resulting in a extra link. So I removed it and now >> only need a very minor twist to the eccentric. With the link and the >> eccentric at its maximum chain length adjustment, it still seemed the chain >> had too much slop. I saw a chain length recommendation from Mark/Grant but >> have yet to count the number of links I currently have. I'll still bring >> the Hubbuhubbuh to my LBS mechanic so he can check it and review the disc >> brake tab issue. >> >> - Love the Compass SwitchBack Hill 48mm tires. They roll super smooth and >> fast. They come to about 50mm mounted on the Hubbuhubbuh rims. I did have >> to inflate them beyond their recommended maximum since the tandem plus >> riders is so much higher. I'll experiment with the pressure over time to >> find the best one. How do folks with tandem experience deal with the tire >> pressures? >> >> This is all for now. I'll report as I get more riding experience. >> >> René >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
