#newbikeday: 90s Rodriguez Trillium Sport
04-13-18, 02:03 PM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: philadelphia, pa
Posts: 242
Bikes: 650b traditional rando, 700c SS rando, 700c fast rando..... plus a mountain, folder, and retired urban track in the basement
Mentioned: 6 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 37 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
#newbikeday: 90s Rodriguez Trillium Sport
Backstory: My partner (6' 0") and myself (5' 7") had been looking at tandems online, knowing eventually we'd get one at *some point* down the road. We're both fairly serious cyclists, me being a wool-clad randonneur, and her being a retrogrouch professional mechanic with a penchant for touring. With our riding styles and riding 'skill set', we knew that I would have to be captain and she would have to stoke, despite the height difference. I had been poking around the Tandems East website, and saw that their annual Tandem Expo was the upcoming weekend. Why not? We know nothing about them and would be nice to actually straddle a few and see what's out there.....
We were surprised to find some really nice offerings from Tandems East, namely a Hokitika 650b gravel tandem with lots of braze-ons, tire clearance, and a modest upcharge for custom geometry, all under $4,000 seemed super reasonable, albeit out of our young-adult couple budget.
After talking with the Tandems East staff and hearing that our size difference wasn't nearly drastic enough to warrant a full custom, we asked about the Rodriguez steel tandem in the used section. It immediately caught both of our eyes, and was affordable! The mechanic smiled and said, "That's me and my wife's old bike. You two should probably give it a spin......"
A fun few laps later, beaming smiles, and a nerve-wracking but exciting conversation with my partner, we decided to pull the trigger and take it home.
It's got everything we could ever need for our first tandem, except for tire clearance. (We are maxing at 700 x 28mm under a fender). We bought it stripped down, but spent all night throwing racks, dynamo wheel, wiring lights, fenders, new tires, etc.
Broad strokes are: 7 speed bar end, canti brakes, drum brake, VO Pass Hunter w. integrated decaleur, IQ-X front (borrowed from her upcoming VO Polyvalent build), Toplight Line Brake Plus on the back of a Bagman2 QR, Swift/Carradice, leather saddles, etc. Eventually we want to update the cockpits, build a new set of wheels, and get some Honjos. All in good time.
We've already been riding it all over the city and dropping each other off/picking each other up. Despite the height difference, our reach/top tube measurements on our single bikes are exactly the same, and so we can move the captain post up for her when she needs to ride it solo. Now that we are getting more comfortable with city riding, doing traditional rides in rural areas should be a breeze!
Dynamo shakedown tonight, hilly 100k tomorrow, and then we are tackling the Eastern PA Flèche 360k next weekend. We're so excited about this! Hopefully the first of many tandems we'll share.
04-13-18, 03:52 PM
#2
Bad example
Great find! Rodriguez tandems are well-regarded.
__________________
Keeping Seattle’s bike shops in business since 1978
Keeping Seattle’s bike shops in business since 1978
04-13-18, 07:52 PM
#3
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Upstate South Carolina
Posts: 1,092
Bikes: 1980's Spectrum 10 sp Campagnolo Centaur, 1990 Eddy Merckx 10 sp Campagnolo Centaur, Bushnell Tandem, Co-Motion Speedster Tandem
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 185 Post(s)
Liked 102 Times
in
65 Posts
That is awesome! Enjoy, sounds like you have a great start.
04-13-18, 11:39 PM
#4
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Eugene, Oregon
Posts: 7,048
Mentioned: 10 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 509 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 9 Times
in
8 Posts
Nice bike. We happen to have a Rodriguez as well and also roll with the taller person (me) as stoker (6'2"), My wife likes to ride captain. She's only 5'5 1/2" (she's lost a half-inch over the years).
As you're playing around with the bike making little changes, perhaps looking into the cost of grinding off the brake posts and putting new ones on a wee bit lower for either 26" or 650B wheels is worth looking into. Such a change will likely give you the tire clearance you want without dramatically changing the geometry. I did this to my wife's beloved 1984 Trek 720 and the bike went from one she liked to one she just can't ride enough to satisfy herself.
Or you could just ride this one as-is and save up for the tandem of your dreams. Every house should have at least two tandems, right?
As you're playing around with the bike making little changes, perhaps looking into the cost of grinding off the brake posts and putting new ones on a wee bit lower for either 26" or 650B wheels is worth looking into. Such a change will likely give you the tire clearance you want without dramatically changing the geometry. I did this to my wife's beloved 1984 Trek 720 and the bike went from one she liked to one she just can't ride enough to satisfy herself.
Or you could just ride this one as-is and save up for the tandem of your dreams. Every house should have at least two tandems, right?
04-14-18, 09:20 AM
#5
Bad example
Nice bike. We happen to have a Rodriguez as well and also roll with the taller person (me) as stoker (6'2"), My wife likes to ride captain. She's only 5'5 1/2" (she's lost a half-inch over the years).
As you're playing around with the bike making little changes, perhaps looking into the cost of grinding off the brake posts and putting new ones on a wee bit lower for either 26" or 650B wheels is worth looking into. Such a change will likely give you the tire clearance you want without dramatically changing the geometry. I did this to my wife's beloved 1984 Trek 720 and the bike went from one she liked to one she just can't ride enough to satisfy herself.
As you're playing around with the bike making little changes, perhaps looking into the cost of grinding off the brake posts and putting new ones on a wee bit lower for either 26" or 650B wheels is worth looking into. Such a change will likely give you the tire clearance you want without dramatically changing the geometry. I did this to my wife's beloved 1984 Trek 720 and the bike went from one she liked to one she just can't ride enough to satisfy herself.
__________________
Keeping Seattle’s bike shops in business since 1978
Keeping Seattle’s bike shops in business since 1978
04-14-18, 07:27 PM
#6
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: philadelphia, pa
Posts: 242
Bikes: 650b traditional rando, 700c SS rando, 700c fast rando..... plus a mountain, folder, and retired urban track in the basement
Mentioned: 6 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 37 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Nice bike. We happen to have a Rodriguez as well and also roll with the taller person (me) as stoker (6'2"), My wife likes to ride captain. She's only 5'5 1/2" (she's lost a half-inch over the years).
As you're playing around with the bike making little changes, perhaps looking into the cost of grinding off the brake posts and putting new ones on a wee bit lower for either 26" or 650B wheels is worth looking into. Such a change will likely give you the tire clearance you want without dramatically changing the geometry. I did this to my wife's beloved 1984 Trek 720 and the bike went from one she liked to one she just can't ride enough to satisfy herself.
Or you could just ride this one as-is and save up for the tandem of your dreams. Every house should have at least two tandems, right?
As you're playing around with the bike making little changes, perhaps looking into the cost of grinding off the brake posts and putting new ones on a wee bit lower for either 26" or 650B wheels is worth looking into. Such a change will likely give you the tire clearance you want without dramatically changing the geometry. I did this to my wife's beloved 1984 Trek 720 and the bike went from one she liked to one she just can't ride enough to satisfy herself.
Or you could just ride this one as-is and save up for the tandem of your dreams. Every house should have at least two tandems, right?
. Luckily in Philly we are blessed with Bilenky and now Simon Firth (Hanford Cycles). We already had Simon drill out the fork crown (are undrilled forks a 90s thing?) for rando-rack mounting, but we'll see what's next in store for us, whether it be moving the studs, S&S retrofitting, orrr maybe a full-blown custom!
