early 1970s Velo Schauff tandem renovation

I thought I'd share me & my girlfriend's impulse buy off eBay last year as I've finally got round to stripping it for a good clean!

Apparently it's from 1972 and it appears to be pretty much original so we've decided to keep it that way wherever possible, with the exception of tyres/tubes/rim tape, cables, grips and a few nuts/bolts/washers. The head badge is a sticker from "Tensor Cycle of Darlington England" who, it would appear, had a close relationship with the West German Velo Schauff factory.

As it had no front wheel (the one in the photo is 27" just fitted for the photo!) for the time being it's using one borrowed from the tired old Hercules that's also sitting in my shed. I would like to fit a better pair to be honest but the bike is only going to be ridden over short-medium distance at a gentle pace so it'll do for now.

We bought it off nice fella who delivered it to us for a reasonable sum and after a good luck around his shed, found the original pedals for us. Nice touches on the solid-but-nothing-fancy steel frame include an 'S' shaped seatstay bridge and pump mounts. The drivetrain consists of Shimano supposedly infamous 3S internal gear rear hub with matching shifter. The brakes are Weinmann 730 and 890 but I'm going to swap the rear 890 for another 730 as the former has far more drop than is needed. Unfortunately we don't have the matching rear mudguard so, despite living in Manchester, we are going are going to do without - though it would clearly look more finished and handsome with!

Was really lucky to find a copy of the original bell in a local cheapo shop in Chorlton, so we can have matching ringers! Here it is as we bought it, expect some rebuild photos soon as I've finished the wheels and most of the cleaning now. Next comes polishing and the rebuild itself

The frame has 72 stamped on it's head tube so that's the date sorted hopefully - it's 2 years older than me Spent a couple of evenings cleaning and polishing with numerous breaks to figure out how to set up the Shimano 3S hub with it's pushrod rather than little chain linkage. Found a good link on the Park Tools website which, along with Sheldon Brown, should be very helpful... luckily I also took a number of reference photos pre-strip as I've never adjusted an internal hub in my life... tips very welcome!

Here's the frame completely stipped apart from BB cups. That front downtube sticker is coming off, the rear one is staying put. Due to lack of cable stops and guides on front of frame (cf flappy cables pictured in my OP) and in the interest of making the controls as much of a team effort as the actually pedalling, I've decided to experiment with the captain taking just front brake and steering, with the stoker in charge of rear brake and shifting... anyone tried this configuration?


Hard to believe these crank bearings are over 37 years old


Shiny bits - first time I've had to split a bike's parts into front and rear boxes


Front chain tensioner - looking a bit more presentable now


Thompson Thun 40mm bottom bracket covers also came up fairly well, one has a hairline fracture but it's going back on!


Trusty old Weinmann 730s pretty much ready to fit... the lever bolts need a bit more work

Great work! It'll look fantastic when finished.

I want a tandem now...

Cheers - come up to Mancunia for a spin on this one!

Good progress today... tyres arrived and fitted - they're cream Schwalbe Delta Crusier 26 x 1 3/8" which match the nice BBB brown leather grips we found half price a while back. Front brake fitted with nice new white outer cable, just fitting rear brake now - there's just enough drop with the 730 caliper. Saddles, wheels, bars cranks all fitted too, final jobs still to do are basically 3 speed set-up then fit grips & bells. Saddles need a clean (while we hunt down a pair of brown Brooks!) and I'd like to get the bars a bit less rusty but I'm waiting for some wire wool!

Here it is in first build - still waiting on delivery of our Brooks saddles! Just a few new washers and nuts fitted - tried to use as much of the original wreck as possible. I think the tyres look smart with the tan BBB grips, the 3 speed was a relative doddle to set-up apart from finding a location for the stroker's gear lever that doesn't touch the captain's bottom

We're going to experiment with positioning of cranks arms relative to each other, it originally had the stoker's arms slightly (one or two teeth) ahead of the captain's so gone with that for first ride tomorrow :!:

I weighed it just for fun... 42.5lb or just over 19kg in new money

Tyres look great - I'm getting those for my girlfriend's Caprice once I get around to re-re-restoring it (powdercoat this time so her chucking it about doesn't destroy my nice paint finish immediately!)

frinkmakesyouthink":2t9qlrfi said:

Tyres look great - I'm getting those for my girlfriend's Caprice once I get around to re-re-restoring it (powdercoat this time so her chucking it about doesn't destroy my nice paint finish immediately!)

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nice... a real ladies bike that, so well mannered

Just tightened up the rear chain and went out for test ride with the missus today - great fun and smiles all round apart from the first time we pulled away from our house (too slowly, very wobbly). Like a fixie it seems much simpler to just regulate your pedalling when attempting to slow down, using gentle braking (not that there's much more than that available), as if one of you stops pedalling the other really feels it in the knees! Pulling away from the lights in first gear you get up to speed in no time at all considering the weight of the thing! After a few miles we'd got the hang of it and were able to manoeuvre in circles in back streets of Chorlton, though still unnerving riding on a busy road.

Overall, we're happy as Larry with it - bring on the Brooks! Also I Brasso'd up an old kickstand as it's awkward to park without bashing up the nice grips!

Great fun! We have two tandems, and ride with one kid on the back of each.

Usually people have the gears and brakes all run to the front, as it allows the captain to anticipate the road ahead. I guess with a hub gear that's less critical. The only danger is locking up the rear, and again I suspect your brakes aren't exactly that powerful :shock: so a short cable probably is the best way to go.

Running the stoker chainset a couple of teeth in advance helps the captain feel the stoker's effort. Some run cranks 90 degrees out, which looks really weird when you see someone ride past like that.

It's a nice build - I saw that bike on ebay, so I'm glad it went to a living home. Some of those really pretty hammered Alu mudguards would set it off a treat.

hamster":348dqlaj said:

Great fun! We have two tandems, and ride with one kid on the back of each.

Usually people have the gears and brakes all run to the front, as it allows the captain to anticipate the road ahead. I guess with a hub gear that's less critical. The only danger is locking up the rear, and again I suspect your brakes aren't exactly that powerful :shock: so a short cable probably is the best way to go.

Running the stoker chainset a couple of teeth in advance helps the captain feel the stoker's effort. Some run cranks 90 degrees out, which looks really weird when you see someone ride past like that.

It's a nice build - I saw that bike on ebay, so I'm glad it went to a living home. Some of those really pretty hammered Alu mudguards would set it off a treat.

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cheers, yes it had one of the mudguards you mentioned supplied but it's battered, so am on look out for a decent pair to replace - looks a bit nude without?!

do your tandems allow you to freewheel independently of each other as this one doesn't - good fixie training I guess? we been generally trying to keep the cranks moving, even under gentle braking, and using lots of verbal communication which must be hilarious for other road users (ie GO / BRAKE / STOP PEDALLING etc). It was an attempt to share the load of duties but I guess time will tell whether it's better to have the captain (ie me) doing all that.

I saw a tandem in Manchester last night darting thru traffic with the 90 degree crank set-up, was noticeably odd