Author Archives: jonnycharlton

We wanted a light tandem that was light enough to lift up and put on the roof of the car, carry through the airport to go on holiday or take on the train. Our steel tandem weighed 62lb, our aluminium tandem weighed 40lb and it was putting us off trying to travel abroad and I’dContinue reading “A light carbon tandem”

The exciting art of building a frame…the test ride! We took a short ride around the local area with a pocket full of bike tools to adjust the components and fit as we went. We hadn’t ridden a tandem with narrow road tyres before so that would be a new experience. The ride was excellent,Continue reading “Aero tandem test ride”

Sram Rival 1×11 brake shifters offered a good option for this build. Cabling to the rear brake and derailleur is run in ducting on the outside of the frame for this prototype but will all be internal routed on next builds. Some sunshine in the Highlands is too precious to miss so I moved toContinue reading “Aero tandem build up”

After lots of careful fine grit sanding to prepare the surface of the frame to a good smooth quality, the finish top coat was applied. Without the benefit of a paint spray gun I applied the top coat resin by brush but taking care it achieved a good enough finish for this prototype build. TheContinue reading “Finished Aero Tandem Frame”

This time I had the advantage of a frame jig from the beginning and the experience of the gravel frame build so I measured and cut the tubes more confidently and everything assembled quickly compared to the first build. Cutting the oval aero profile tubes was a new experience but making paper templates to guideContinue reading “Aero tandem bike frame build”

Today’s high end aero road bikes have beautifully styled carbon frames and include integrated seat masts and integrated hidden hoses so we aimed to emulate those designs. If our road tandem was leaning alongside modern road bikes it should match their design standards and aesthetics. Photo: Variety of tube shapes made planning the design moreContinue reading “Designing an aero tandem bike frame”

After the success of the making the gravel frame I had to build another one. We had joked about doing more long rides so we needed an aero road tandem! If we could build a tandem frame that emulated the stylish clean designs of high end modern road tandems that would be a perfect frameContinue reading “Another tandem frame build”

We added on some bike packing bags to see how they would fit and loaded up a picnic, flask and warm clothes for an early spring ride out to the beach. The bags all fitted and the tandem rode well so all was looking good for the future holidays riding hotel to hotel with lightContinue reading “Tandem bike test ride with bags”

We waited for a dry day in the winter weather, which was a long wait in February on the north coast of Scotland. We kept it a short ride in the cold and rode slowly to not overload the components or frame. All the while I listened for sounds of anything breaking and regularly stoppedContinue reading “First tandem bike test ride”

I still didn’t know if the frame would ride ok so there was no point buying expensive components and wheels if it rode like a clown bike in the circus or snapped in the middle. Photo: 1×11 drivetrain with Shimano GRX derailleur. Mid-grade MTB wheels, a budget 1×11 drivetrain set up, mechanical brake shifters andContinue reading “Components for the tandem bike frame”