I've been hankering after another tandem for quiet a while now....you know the equation: N+1, well that applies to tandems as well! The idea was to have another to keep and use in France...and what better than a tried and trusted Peugeot?
This one came courtesy of ebay ....as did the previous one, but this was local and delivered to the door free of charge! A one owner from new it was bought at the Harrogate show in 1983 and is pretty much original. Obvious changes are 2 Brooks B17 saddles, stoker handle bars changed to alloy drops and the brakes changed to modern V-brakes, but everything else is as standard.
This one came courtesy of ebay ....as did the previous one, but this was local and delivered to the door free of charge! A one owner from new it was bought at the Harrogate show in 1983 and is pretty much original. Obvious changes are 2 Brooks B17 saddles, stoker handle bars changed to alloy drops and the brakes changed to modern V-brakes, but everything else is as standard.
The pearlescent white paintwork is in very good condition considering it's over 30 years old. It's interesting to compare the different transfer colours to the other, more apparent older Grand Tourisme model.
The main Peugeot transfer is in bold black lettering, matching the famous racing jersey's worn by people like Tom Simpson. The chainset is Stronghlight with 42T/52T with 36T crossover rings. Front and rear changers are by Simplex with down tube shifters....I'm not sure how I'm going to get on with those, might have to change them to bar end shifters at a later date!
Pedals are un-branded, but fitted with Christophe toe-clips and straps as standard! Also fitted to both sides of the pedals are Cibie reflectors. It is interesting to note that these pedals are what they call French threads..very close to English metric threads, but it means that clipless pedals wont fit. I understand that they can be retapped, but that means the originals wont fit!
The standard wheels are un-branded hubs laced to heavy steel Rigida Chrolux rims, 36 spokes on the front and 40 on the rear. Tyres are balloon -ish 700 x 35 Hutchinsons. The front wheel alone weighs in at a hefty 2100 g ! The rear wheel has an Atom hub brake operated by the left hand brake lever...the right hand lever has a twin cable set up which operated both front and rear rim brakes. The idea of the hub brake was to scrub speed off when descending at high speed!
To remove the rear wheel the hub brake cable has to be disconnected ...not sure how you would replace an inner-tube at the side of the road? Other equipment include full steel mudguards, rear rack and working (!) dynamo lighting with front and rear lights mounted to the mudguards.
So what to do with it? In a way it seems a shame to further modify it, but a lot of the equipment is surplus to requirement. So the original parts will be removed, cleaned and labelled up so they can be retro-fitted. One of the major issues is that it weighs the proverbial tonne!.....so it's going on a strict weight saving regime...and first to go are those wheels! The other tandem is about 2 KG lighter and it has rather nice Shimano 600 tricolour hubs laced to a set of Mavic 30mm rims and it rides really nicely.
So what to do with it? In a way it seems a shame to further modify it, but a lot of the equipment is surplus to requirement. So the original parts will be removed, cleaned and labelled up so they can be retro-fitted. One of the major issues is that it weighs the proverbial tonne!.....so it's going on a strict weight saving regime...and first to go are those wheels! The other tandem is about 2 KG lighter and it has rather nice Shimano 600 tricolour hubs laced to a set of Mavic 30mm rims and it rides really nicely.
The front mudguard and light were removed...these weighed in at 530G... and I fitted the front wheel, a Shimano R500, off my Scott just to see what it would look like! The black rims, white and red lettering and the blue tyre complement the white paintwork, black Peugeot lettering and the tricolour transfers on the tubing. These wheels can be picked up from about £40 off E-Bay. Other weight saving ideas are replacing both steel seat pins and front bars with aluminium replacements. The pedal/toe-clip and brake cable set up I will keep so it is in line with L'Eroica requirements....just in case!