Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Tandem Update

Making a few changes and tuning it up.
I made the news known a few weeks back that I had obtained a tandem bicycle from a generous individual who reads the blog here. This bike's  purpose is to bring my reluctant daughter into the world of riding a bicycle. That is something the rest of the family would love to see, by the way, not just myself. Anyway, the litmus test would be if she was going to be able to deal with the concept and actually take a test ride with me as the captain.

Happily, I can report that she took to it alright. I cannot say she is super excited, but she's open to the experience. I think that showing her that she is safe and won't fail will be paramount to her future as a possible solo cyclist. That's waaaay down the road, but the foundation is being laid with this bicycle right here.

So, with that test passed I got the green light to modify the bike to work for us. I swapped out the bars, stem, and grips. Then I put on a different saddle on the stoker's post, but this may be a work in progress depending upon how my daughter adjusts to riding more. I also tuned up the derailleurs and flushed out the RapidFire shifter pods to get the pawls and springs freed up. I also adjusted up the brakes and replaced the front noodle for the linear pull brake with a good used one. Mechanically, it's in top notch shape now.

Well, I should flip the front wheel back around!

Other than that, we're ready for several short, acclimatization rides to get my daughter into some semblance of "cycling shape" so her body doesn't hate on her after a longer ride. I'll hopefully have some good updates on our progress as Fall continues. Stay tuned.......


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