Excel (Dan Genner Cycles) Tandem a family heirloom

[Doubledee]

Im about to undertake a restoration thats very special to me. Back in the early 1970's (when I was in single digits!) I remember my dad taking delivery from some old Manchester clarion friends of a tandem. It was a bit of a beast as all tandems were, made by Excel Cycles in Colliers Wood London , with hub brakes and a rear foot brake (metal rod connected etc!) well he fitted it with a highly inappropriate child seat for me at the back (so dangerous) and my dad , my older sister and me would go out on rides, I remember being under the cover of his custard coloured cape in the rain seeing the road flash by beneath as my sister and I sheltered. My dad had history and had toured with my mum in Scotland in the 1950's, he also rode with a mate (Ged Crowther) down the Manchester road overtaking milk lorries so he knew how to handle a tandem. Years later when the tandem had ben languishing in the garage unused my friend and I decided to get it back on the road, so we butchered it by buying some Rossin decals and sprayed it (very badly) red with Halfords paint and proceeded to give it a try out in the mid eighties round some of Cheshires local lanes and also Long Hill to Buxton. I had Ian Craig in Whaley Bridge braze some canti brake bosses on it and fitted some very weak dia compe cantis. The fun we had crapping ourselves and not stopping also it had a Chater Lea straight through drive single chainset (not cross over). So...pleased with our outing we decided to race it, bear in mind both of us were accompolished road men and time triallists regularly going under the hour (no tri bars!) on the slow cheshire lanes courses. An old timer gave me a home made chainring that he had welded a Chater Lea inner spider ring to a Williams outer as we only had a 50 tooth Chater Lea single ring, so it was now a 60, yes 60 tooth ring with a 13-18 on the back! We rode a 10m TT on the JC11 a slow course and when finished I thought oh no we've gone slower than on our own bikes! we actually did a 19 min 10m TT!! Also did a couple of M&DTTA time trials and the odd clubrun with our club the South Lancashire Road club, before consigning it to the garage again whilst we went off to road race. Fast forward to 2016 and I decided it was time to revisit the old beast and consider what to do. Obviously it will never leave the family and the frame is very sound 531 tubing. I'd like to get it going again but Im not sure what to do yet, do I keep the straight through steel Chater Lea drive or go more cross over modern? , do I even get disc mounts fitted or go for a period restore? The latter Im not sure is worth it as I think using it SAFELY would bring more use and pleasure. So here we go thanks for reading my lengthy story....and please forgive the current pictures of it as a Rossin !
Here’s a link to info about Dan Genner & Excel Cycles sounds a character himself !
http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/bu ... swood.html
Cheers Darren

 

[Sheffield]

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We're going to have a right laugh when that bad boy is rolling again. I'd go for disc tabs, but not convinced the original forks will cope with the stress of disc forces, so maybe a new fork. Actually, I have a disc setup for the rear that can be retro fitted to pretty much any frame. I think it's a Hope C2 number 2 caliper.

 

[Doubledee]

Re: Re:

We're going to have a right laugh when that bad boy is rolling again. I'd go for disc tabs, but not convinced the original forks will cope with the stress of disc forces, so maybe a new fork. Actually, I have a disc setup for the rear that can be retro fitted to pretty much any frame. I think it's a Hope C2 number 2 caliper.

Waheey !!!! Just your size young man, yes for once sensible useability and safety come first , chat later re then takes etc on the phone this should be fun, always got folks shouting out can y'ride tandem

 

[Doubledee]

off to the powder coaters today , gloss black including the heavily pitted stem. I had stripped this back in the eighties but not opened the bottom brackets or headset, happy to report british engineering and quality from the 30's - 50's is alive and well no pitting and still smooth I've found a 48 tooth chater lea chain ring and cleaned up and polished the headset clip to dull silver. Got the old unused brazed tabs filed off to bare metal but left the mudguard tabs and its now prepped with bolts to stop the powder coating messing up the threads on the brake pegs and oil nipples. Going to fit a SRAM X7 10 speed trigger shifter (the steel bars are 22.2 mm, 1 inch) so will fit without widening the bracket with a SRAM X5 rear 10 speed mech , so I'll still be challenged with 48x 36 bottom gear!! , I'll aim to finish off with black micro adjust seat posts, red lizard skins bar tape, avid shorty6 cantilever brakes and some solid touring wheels from mavic A319 rims black on deore hubs, Im only 63 Kg and I'll be riding mainly with my daughter who is 12 so should be ok, sorry its not period but should look great and will still get used which is whats most important here.

 

[Doubledee]

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The devil is always in the cleaning, in this instance over 3 hours, no NOS here or online choice for the Chater Lea cranks so I had to make the best of it by hand with wet and dry , Jif cream cleaner, soap and water etc, made super hard by the decades of backed on dirt!! I actually like the patina and will consider re-chroming them if the bikes a success. All parts are now ordered and the frame comes back from the powder coaters on Monday. I'll fit the 48 tooth 3/32 ring when it arrives, still would like a smaller ring though if anyone has one?

Sheffield from the forum had a great idea to get some decals made in my fathers name, "Alexander Dunn" and maybe a monograph AD for behind the rear seat tube. I'd go for some classic lettering in red as i don't want it to stand out in white, it already has a brass head badge and Im fitting black seat posts and red lizard skin bar tape with black mavic A319 rims black spokes and defoe black hubs 36 hole with Schwalbe Durano + 28C tyres and black wide sKS mudguards.
Does anyone know online where I could get a couple of sets made up?

Cheers Darren

 

[Doubledee]

Im updating this thread more for me so apologies for so many pictures. Got the frame back from the powder coaters today, excellent job for £70 super glossy the pictures don't really show it. The wheels arrived Deore on Mavic A319 good and strong , and cheap (£105) for my lightweight use, Im only 63Kg. Having the seat posts reamed out to a uniform 27.2mm as the aged clamps have distorted slightly. Also got a quote for re-chroming the cranksets that surprised me, £70 for just both cranksets or £130 including the 3 chain rings , thats a good price! I'll live with the patina for now and get done in January once its been test ridden. Really pleased overall and it should go together nicely, checked with both my stokers, they still want to ride thats my daughter aged 12 and "Sheffield" from this forum, youll notice I replaced the 60 tooth chainring with a more manageable 48 tooth Chater Lea in good conditon.

 

[Doubledee]

So I keep adding to this thread, lots of progress and a few changes for the better! Fitted the bottom brackets drive drain, gears , chains, all work flawlessly fixed up the cockpit but the original plan to use original period bars and stem have been ditched because well frankly it wasn't up to it! So the steerer thread was re-cut and the headset clamped down properly and safely, but also got the chance to fit an headset adaptor to use a safer and more comfortable bars and stem. Also the plan to use Avid Shorty 6 cantilevers has had to be changed as the bosses were too close to the wheel, they were done like that in the eighties as the cantilevers like Weinman and Mafac were slightly lower arms to the pivot bolt compared to todays. Also looked at V brakes, might have got one on the back but certainly not on the front, so Ive got a decent used pair of 1990's black Shimano XT cantilever callipers with the barelled block and shoes. Also ordered 2 cheap black micro adjust seatposts to finish off. Check out the rear Isla bike rear pedals in place for when my 12 year old daughter takes up her stoker position soon!.....Oh and i fitted the polished head badge too. No apologies for the many pictures as its just as much for me as a build history.

 

[Sheffield]

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Looking sweet! Soooo looking forward to getting a few KoMs...

 

[Doubledee]

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Nearly there, just rear bars/tape and decals...oh and SKS wide black plastic mudguards!, forgotten how much of a pain cantilever brakes are to get right but now good! They look good in my opinion, also check out the Heath Robinson rear pulley for the rear brake cable. Actually pulls much more smoothly and strongly and I'm happy with the brake performance overall even thought I haven't ridden it yet! Just awaiting a website to quote on the decals, I've put a picture of how they should look in this post to go on the down tube and cross brace tube and the monograms behind each seat tube. Should finish over Christmas and New Year, my Mum and sister are very pleased so far with the result

 

[andyz]

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I'm really enjoying this post, good to see a tandem which will be used. So many are laguishing in dusty sheds!
I see the Islabike pedals are gone, your daughter must be pretty confident to use SPDs on a tandem, I'm too chicken for that, we'll for the time being anyway. I should put some pics up of our Dawes mtb monster tandem sometime.