JoeShellharbour

Iv'e been looking at a travel tandem suitable to fit in our camper and lite enough to throw out when ever we stop and stick it in the back of the 4X4 tray carrying the camper so far the main option is a older Bike friday Two's day with 3 speed Rear hub and 9 speed casett. fitting S&S couplings to an older tandem seems to hard so far (in Australia).
So the question is "is fitting a 3 speed hub and casett a comon place method of getting a simpler gear train ".
And is it possible and feasable to fit to and older tandem when up grading.
As I ride reguarly with a group"EXsight" we have 8 Cannondales all getting a bit old in the gear trains and this may be a viable method of getting rid of the front tripple Chain rings which seem to be a bit troublesum when many inexperienced captains ride many different bikes.
Any suggestions?
Regards
Joe

Leisesturm

Many Bike Friday's were sold with 3 x 8/9 SRAM DualDrive hubs as OEM. Bike Friday Family Tandems are self coupled, and Tandem Two'sday's both fold and separate (self coupled) without additional S&S fittings. Even in Australia there must be scads of coupled tandems on the secondary market that were either custom built or coupled after purchase. Either way, they are for sale for 1/2 or less of their original prices. Front derailleurs aren't that bad. There is no free lunch. The 3sp internal gear hubs have their own issues. The Dual Drive and their Sturmey-Archer successors exist mainly to provide 20" tires the kind of gear ratios that are standard on 26" and 700C tires OR be used in combination with a standard front double (or triple) to create tractor trailer type gear ranges.

JoeShellharbour

Yes Leisestrum I have looked at a bike friday Two'sday it is 12 years old and they still want 1/2 new price and they are the 2nd owner so still looking daily
have also a friend who has a coupled Cannondale and am trying to borrow it for trips as he has 3 tandems (only one with couplers) he paid $3,000 AUD to have S&S it coupled 3 years ago and he thinks the shop has failed during Covid
I check the sale adds daily (have done for months) but tandems of any description rarly come up (other than Poligon )
There has been acouple of Alloy tandems lately but they can't be coupled must be a steel frame.
I live in hope
Regards Joe

JoeShellharbour

Here we are mid summer and 3 tandems on the 2nd hand market the best one a Los Dos MTB Cannondale I bid on and won (I was the only bidder after 5 weeks) have been in contact with 3 frame builders (2 failed to repond probably closed up shop) and had discovered the I can't cut and S&S couple a Alloy tandem so have passed on the Los Dos to one of my Blind Stokers who was also looking.
So finaly have commissioned a new tandem with 26" wheels to our design to fit in the camper and both our vehicles Test fit late March delivery May or June (the frame builder only makes custom bikes and mainly for disabled riders or stokers)
We will continue to ride our cannondale and have the custom bike for away outings
All our kids live more than 2 hours away and soon we will be able to take the camper and tandem (rather the decide which one to take) when we visit
Regards
Joe