Home made MTB tandem - It made it to the pub! - Pics page 4
- Thread starter s1monf
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I'm looking forward to seeing this develop (not just the first ride video, honest 
), already looks very neat clipped together. Just one thought springs to mind - as you attach the two frames together you will be changing the head angle a degree or two, which (going on the above advice) should give you chance to steepen it a couple of degrees (I think that's what will happen anyway). Then you just need a fork with lots of offset...
Best of luck, top project!
), already looks very neat clipped together. Just one thought springs to mind - as you attach the two frames together you will be changing the head angle a degree or two, which (going on the above advice) should give you chance to steepen it a couple of degrees (I think that's what will happen anyway). Then you just need a fork with lots of offset...Best of luck, top project!
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Actually no, I think you're slackening it at the moment (due to the difference between head and seat angles) and then slackening it some more with the long forks :? Not sure if it's possible to weld the tubes directly to the seattube, rather than using the headtube, giving you the choice of angle?elPedro666":1lu15sed said:
I may be all off-track here though - just going on the advice posted above that I think kinda makes sense...
Head angle
Thanks for your technical input gents.
We carefully analysed the relationship between the front and rear head angles through one eye at dusk and having had several beers on the return leg of our ride and decided that, given the fact that it will probably not be the nimblest beast in the world and the head angles and bottom bracket heights looked similar, we'd just weld the fekker together and see how it goes!
We have a couple of fork options in disc / non-disc and 26" or 29er.
I am also pleased to announce that it should be getting welded together in the next couple of weeks now that my mate's honeymoon period is drawing to a close.
Look out for updates / crash pictures!
Thanks for your technical input gents.
We carefully analysed the relationship between the front and rear head angles through one eye at dusk and having had several beers on the return leg of our ride and decided that, given the fact that it will probably not be the nimblest beast in the world and the head angles and bottom bracket heights looked similar, we'd just weld the fekker together and see how it goes!
We have a couple of fork options in disc / non-disc and 26" or 29er.
I am also pleased to announce that it should be getting welded together in the next couple of weeks now that my mate's honeymoon period is drawing to a close.
Look out for updates / crash pictures!
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Re: Head angle
A fine attitude that I can only salute!
Nah, motion pictures are required for this one please :twisted:
A fine attitude that I can only salute!
s1monf":3twtdvp1 said:
Nah, motion pictures are required for this one please :twisted:
greenstiles
Old School Grand Master
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I've seen a lot of tandems close up as a mechanic in the past. They all seemed to a lot more re-enforcement that just 2 light frames together.....please be careful, get the frame weights of your average steel tandem frame, if your two frame jobbie is way way lighter, you may have some strentgh issues 
thecannibal
Retro Guru
This whole thing makes my head hurt. Those frame really aren't heavy duty enough to build a road tandem from, much less off-road. I reckon the stresses acting on a tandem are more than twice those on an equivalent solo and also tend to act in a different way. For example, there is WAY more torsion on the front end due to the extra length of the thing. I'm not an engineer or frame builder, but I am a mechanic and have quite a bit of experience riding/building tandems.
My first tandem was a '30s Sun of Birmingham to which I fitted all modern parts. It's heavy, but basically a great bike and similar framesets can be had for bobbins. I'd recommend going this route and if your frame-building urge persists, why not actually build a frame? If you can weld together two frames competently, then you pretty much have all the skills and equipment to build from scratch, right? If you've really got your heart set on butchering two usable frames to create a quite possibly dangerously unusable tandem, then you're probably best holding out for some seriously beefy donor frames.
My first tandem was a '30s Sun of Birmingham to which I fitted all modern parts. It's heavy, but basically a great bike and similar framesets can be had for bobbins. I'd recommend going this route and if your frame-building urge persists, why not actually build a frame? If you can weld together two frames competently, then you pretty much have all the skills and equipment to build from scratch, right? If you've really got your heart set on butchering two usable frames to create a quite possibly dangerously unusable tandem, then you're probably best holding out for some seriously beefy donor frames.
thecannibal
Retro Guru
Sorry, that was all a bit negative. I'm all for home-made freak bikes, but it seems to me that an elaborate bodge like this is best reserved for creating something weird and unique, instead of rather badly reinventing the wheel - especially when decent ready-made alternatives abound. If you want to get experimental, why not go for some crazy side-by-side configuration or something?
