tandem

I’m working with an engineering firm in Walker at the moment. The thing with engineering firms is that people get excited about the strangest things - like the project I’ve been working on to restore my Pashley tandem. So with the weather forecast favourable yesterday, I took the opportunity to take the tandem for the...
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I’ve been BUSY these last couple of weeks. Really busy. Put it this way, work is starting to interfere with my fitness. And that just can’t be good! So I’ve had to grab it while I can . . . like on Saturday: In the morning, I had a meeting up at Starbucks / Borders at...
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I’ve been thinking a little about this over the last couple of weeks. Trying to reconcile my driving with my cycling, walking, and use of public transport, that is. So here’s my problem. My parents & sister live some 350 miles from here. Wife’s sister in Wales is 400 miles each way, and Wife’s parents...
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Apart from a bank that is. I hear they pay you to take them off their hands. Well, you could get a little Nintendo thingumajig, like this: Or you could get yourself one of these handy two-seater bikes, which are MUCH MORE FUN: Here’s how my spend worked out: Purchase price: £50 New Tyres: £22 New mudguards: £24 New cables: £10 Bike...
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The old Pashley tandem I bought a few weeks back is nearly finished. Finished enough to ride at any rate. Which is precisely what we did a couple of times over the weekend. Just after Daughter got back from school on Friday, I finally picked up the extra-long tandem gear cable I needed, and fitted...
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This is a totally shameless plug for someone who’s just left a comment here. David Hembrow’s got some great writing on cycle culture & safety, and is also a maker of beautiful traditional English willow baskets for bikes. These really look the bee’s knees - so much so that now I’m wondering about having...
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So here’s where I am with the Pashley tandem I bought a few weeks ago. As I write this, it’s components are in a small box. In front of that is the frame - stripped of everything except the head tube badge. Over the weekend, I’m going to strip the paint and clean up...
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I’m ashamed to admit that I drove into Whitley Bay today on an errand. That’s about 0.8 miles each way. Sorry. My excuse was that it was absolutely p!$hing down, and I’d just had enough of getting soaked - soaked last night on the Tandem, soaked this morning when I ran to the shop to...
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No, that’s not a misquote from some French royalty. It’s the motto of 617 Squadron, whose story was told by Paul Brickhill in The Dam Busters - one of my Thrilling Yarns that I read over the summer. It was Daughter’s first swimming lesson after the summer break. And although the weather forecast was for...
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No, not a bike for training. A bike train: To build this, you’ll need as many steel-framed bikes as you’ve got friends who’re daft enough to want to ride the bike train. You could do it with aluminium bikes, but you’re going to be welding, which is easy-ish with steel, but the work of...
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