CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help

Any thoughts, please?

(23 posts)
  • Started 12 years ago by Pocopiglet
  • Latest reply from Its_Me_Knees
  • This topic is not resolved

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  1. Pocopiglet
    Member

    New member here, so please excuse any gaffes made.

    Intro: I used to be very fit and cycled everywhere on a variety of bikes ( Raleigh New Yorker, Puch Picnic and then Puch roadbike) but due to carer duties ( 2 elderly parents and an autistic 18 year old) I haven't been out for ages. I am looking to get back into it and have a Ed Co-op bike awaiting use.
    However, is there anywhere in Edinburgh or environs that would give try outs of tandems? Our 18 year old can ride a bike but is not safe as they have a fear of things coming towards them ( won't sit in front seat of car, only in rear looking sideways). They can cycle along the street but not looking ahead all the time leads to various ventures into front gardens etc. I thought that being the rear seat on a tandem might solve the problem as they can only go where the front cyclist takes them. I'm keen to resolve the issue so that, at last, we might all go out as a family instead of one at a time.
    Oh, and how can a tandem be carried on a car?

    Any help would be appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  2. SRD
    Moderator

    I suspect our own Laidback would be happy to let you have a go on one of his tandems. Also, there is a tandem club that I can send you details of.

    There are also some specialised programmes around (not in ed) that do cycling for people with disabilities.

    And, if all those fail, you're welcome to try mine, but it is currently configured for a 5 year old stoker, with kiddiecranks, so a bit of a pain to configure for a big kid!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  3. Pocopiglet
    Member

    Thanks SRD. I'll look into cycling clubs for those with disabilities and also have a look at Laidback's site. Thanks for your prompt reply.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  4. chdot
    Admin

    Welcome.

    Not (quite) in Edinburgh.

    http://cyclinginfife.wordpress.com/2010/06/04/cycling-at-lochore-meadows

    Also suggest you come along to The Meadows on Saturday about 2.00 and see all sorts of bikes/tandems/trikes that might inspire you all!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  5. Uberuce
    Member

    Ooh, hello Pocopiglet.

    Other suppliers are likely to be available, but yes, tandem bike roofracks exist:

    http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/avenir-tandem-carrier-car-rack-prod18885/

    Posted 12 years ago #

  6. SRD
    Moderator

    I've only been a member for a few months, but my sense is that the tandem club newsletter has had some stories about biking with people with disabilities, and lots of adverts for roofracks etc. also second hand tandems for sale - which reminds me, there was a recent mailing from someone local looking to sell their tandem, which I've pasted below, sans the attachments and the sellers email/phone. anyone interested PM me yr email and I'll forward it to you.

    TANDEM FOR SALE

    THORN ADVENTURER
    The Thorn Adventure tandem was built to suit myself at 6'3" and a stoker upto 5'9".
    The basic tandem (derailleur gears) in 2005 was £1599.00, with the additions the cost was c£1900.00. Today this tandem would be about the same price new.
    There were a few additions made to the basic machine such as , drag brake, pannier carriers, speedo computers front and back etc
    The tandem has only been used up to about 10 times!
    The reason for sale is that the tandem is not being used and taking up space in my garage.
    The tandem is in vgc and would be interested in offers about £1200.00

    Posted 12 years ago #

  7. crowriver
    Member

    Parkers of Bolton have that roof rack for quite a bit less:

    http://www.parkersofbolton.co.uk/p-1001-avenir-aluminium-tandem-carrier-car-rack.aspx

    Posted 12 years ago #

  8. Pocopiglet
    Member

    Thanks everyone for your input. I'd love to attend on Saturday but it very much depends on duration of caring duties. I'll be with you all in spirit though and I have signed the petition online.

    18 year old is about 5ft 8 or 9 whilst I am vertically challenged at 5ft (5ft 1 on a good day) will that cause problems on a tandem? I suppose it's kind of like having the sprog in the lead seat :-)

    Posted 12 years ago #

  9. fimm
    Member

    http://charlottestandems.weebly.com/ might be of use?
    They lend tandems to disabled people.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  10. Uberuce
    Member

    We talked about rider mass a few weeks back. The ministry of They say the heavier rider should steer, since if there's disagreement about which way to lean, the slinky one is going to lose.

    We didn't get round to putting it to the test, but now we've got a reason above simple curiosity and we have an ideal laboratory in the form of SRD who rides a tandem, and barring some astonishly dense molecular structure, weighs about 60% of me.

    Heavier riders on CCE are available, but I'm volunteering since I really want a shotty on the Helios.

    Fun fact(for biophysics fans): I happen to have immeasurably dense bones. Well, not really, but the only machines they make to detect bone mineral density are scaled for osteoperosis in little old ladies, not sports scientists wanting to quantify body composition among various types of jock. The densest ones crashed the software every time they tried to process the data, those individuals being load-bearing-sport-doing men of sub-Saharan African ancestry. And me. Only honky to break the machine, rawr.

    Cyclists worried him, if I remember correctly. They're pretty solid from toe to hip, a little below sportsman average in the upper body, but fine compared to Joe Public, but their lower spines were very undermineralised.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  11. wingpig
    Member

    "...a little below sportsman average in the upper body..."

    What about cyclists with bairns of hoickable age?

    Posted 12 years ago #

  12. Tom
    Member

    There was and may still be a blue Italian racing tandem in storage at Bonnington Resource Centre in Leith. It was bought in the hope that people with learning disabilities could experience cycling without having to learn to cycle. When that turned out not to be the case some cycling provision was found at SYAC, Scotland Yard Adventure Centre, which had several very expensive cusltom built tandem tricycles. I don't know if SYAC is still there.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  13. Uberuce
    Member

    This chap was mostly recruiting test subjects from EU, Wingpig, so sproglet-hoisters would be under-represented.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  14. Pocopiglet
    Member

    Thanks again everyone. I'll maybe have a wee word with the people in the link fimm posted as they'll maybe have had experience of the 'I don't like things moving fast towards me' behaviour . I'll let you know how we get on.

    Once again, many thanks to all. With any luck we'll be spotted sometime on a tandem (although we live in Smudge territory) in our new fitter than fit mode. We should be easy to recognise as there will be a red faced midget at the front and a relaxed lump behind watching the scenery going past (sideways)

    All the best with POP ( won't manage as required elsewhere).

    Posted 12 years ago #

  15. Min
    Member

    Normally the person in front on the tandem would block the view of the person behind but as you are smaller I guess the effect will be lessened. Some sort of stovepipe hat perhaps? :-)

    Good luck with finding and trying out a tandem!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  16. gembo
    Member

    SYAC still there. Article in recent CTC magazine about couple touring on a tandem in europe that' they brought back on European Bike Bus as it folded. MIT need a big car for a folding tandem but maybe a possibility?

    Posted 12 years ago #

  17. thebikechain
    Member

    gembo - did the bits arrive?

    Posted 12 years ago #

  18. Pocopiglet
    Member

    Update - heard back within hours from Charlotte's tandems and have been given forms to complete. They have a branch in Edinburgh.
    Excellent result and many thanks for the suggestion fimm.
    However offspring is now becoming very anxious about it all happening (was sure before but maybe bravado) so we'll take it a bit slower and try some of the old Jedi mind tricks to hopefully convert them to the idea once again....anyone out there able to plait fog that could give us lessons?

    Thanks again all!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  19. gembo
    Member

    @thebikechain - sorry not to get back sooner ( v busy interviewing folk this week)- the replacement attachment arrived Tuesday and the ortlieb saddle bag (2.7 litre capacity) sitting attached to fastest bike read for my 180 mile London orbital. Most excellent after sales from thebikechain don't you know.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  20. Uberuce
    Member

    We should be easy to recognise as there will be a red faced midget at the front and a relaxed lump behind watching the scenery going past (sideways)

    I like Pocopiglet.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  21. crowriver
    Member

    The Edinburgh branch is based at Eastside Bikes, it seems!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  22. ExcitableBoy
    Member

    We should be easy to recognise as there will be a red faced midget at the front and a relaxed lump behind watching the scenery going past .

    This reminds me of the time I hired a tandem with my daughter whilst in Cardiff. She was on the back shouting "this is so much easier than normal cycling" - I turn to see her, happily texting away!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  23. Its_Me_Knees
    Member

    Slightly off topic, but I feel obliged to register a common experience with Pocopiglet.

    I lost many night's sleep anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Raleigh New Yorker back in the day when my Mum broke the bank and bought me one out of Kay's catalogue. My first bike, in gloriously lustrous dark green with golden metal mudguards, SA 3-speed hub with that driveless gap between 2nd and 3rd that put my nads hard against the crossbar every time I failed to twist the grip adequately.

    Fast forward ten years and I bought a five speed Puch road bike off my mate. A world away from the Raleigh, I used it to explore the potholes of the Old Kent Road in my native London. Well built beast IIRC, but oddly I can't recall what became of it....

    Posted 12 years ago #

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