Tandems.co.uk

A TOUR OF THE PUBLIC CONVENIENCES AND MUNICIPAL CAR PARKS OF THE SOUTH WEST OF ENGLAND

• 19/03/2007
• Permalink
• No Comments

For some reason because the South West of England isn’t in our usual haunts of Scotland, Wales, Ireland or South of France we rarely go there so this year we decided to take the blinkers off and go somewhere completely different. As we live in South Warwickshire and occasionally read the Guardian this suited us as we could start the tour from home without the need of road or air transport. It would also mean more time to cycle, yippee!

Posted in Experiences by Johnny.

JD Cycles add two more exclusive tandem brands

• 14/03/2007
• Permalink
• No Comments

Specialist tandem retailers JD Cycles add two more exclusive tandem brands to their already impressive selection.

Last autumn, JD Cycles of Ilkley acquired the tandem manufacturing side of Orbit Cycles’ business. Owners John and Ruth Hargreaves say they have plans to develop and expand the Orbit tandem range over the coming years, and will be retailing their new in-house brand exclusively through their shop and website, www.tandems.co.uk . The Orbit tandems can accommodate both 700c and 26” wheel sizes, with prices ranging from £795 to £1200.

Posted in General by Johnny.

South America on a bicycle made for two

• 20/12/2006
• Permalink
• No Comments

On our first ever tandem tour (Sheffield to John O’Groats) an idea was born: the length of South America on a bicycle made for two. Sounds daft eh? We thought so too, so we revised our plans to Equador and Peru instead. The, bike, a Santana Picante, was purchased from JD Cycles in Ilkley (many thanks for all the help and advice) and christened ‘Johnny’ after his place of conception. We bought a map and some spangly new shoes, and spent many hours making phone-calls and writing letters to try and get some kind of assurance our beloved would be accepted onto the plane. No joy. KLM do NOT carry tandems, even if it does fit inside the bike-box that they provide. We took a risk and parcelled Johnny up like a solo bike, and kept our fingers crossed they wouldn’t x-ray it and find too many saddles. The other problem was the weight limit – the bike would only be carried free if we did not exceed the weight limit. After the bike and all it’s packaging, that left us only 12Kg plus hand luggage for ALL our equipment. Only one change of pants then. We were about 1Kg over our limit, but the Gods were looking down on us and we arrived in Quito, Equador, with us, bike and luggage intact.

Posted in Experiences by Johnny.

The Dartmoor Devil on a Tandem

• 12/12/2006
• Permalink
• No Comments

Well the day started off find, we loaded the tandem on to the back of the car alright and the weather forecast was sunny with no wind. So far so good, things started to change as we drove up to the start at Bovey Tracy, the light board decided to come off, luckily only on one side. It didn’t hit the deck so I just clipped it back on and we arrived at the start.

Posted in Experiences by Johnny.

100 miles on a tandem with 5000 feet of climbing

• 10/10/2006
• Permalink
• No Comments

100 miles on a tandem with 5000 feet of climbing, one day’s tandem experience each, and both of us old enough to be grannies. People thought we were mad to enter the Lancashire Valley Loop charity cycle ride, and I suspect a few didn’t think we’d finish. We’d practised – for half an hour the day before, and could stop and start without falling off.

Posted in Experiences by Johnny.

2 Go Mad on 'Phil and Friends'

• 23/08/2006
• Permalink
• No Comments

This is one of the CTC challenge rides and took place on 13th August. Basically it’s a very hard sportif with a 105km and 150km option starting and finishing at Stannington near Sheffield.

We are both Phil Liggett fans and have tandemmed the event before and I solo’d the 150km option several years ago. This year with our new Santana ‘Beyond’ and corresponding improved performance believed we had a chance of completing the 150km version.

Posted in Experiences by Johnny.