wompy ride report

Well we took Burley bob out to Wompatuck Forest for a run on their green ways, 7 1/2 miles and here is the feed back on the upgrades I have done

Thudbuster St

many thumbs up from my stoker, her response is she wants one on her urban bike (2018 Specialized Sirius Carbon)

Brakes

So I updated/upgrades the brakes after cleaning both brake surfaces on the rims with aMr Clean Magic Eraser then rubbing alcohol 

the fronts were the XT Parallel Push Brake with the Two color Kool Stop pads and an Old Brake Booster.

the rears were mid level Deore with stock black pads

I think the fronts worked so well I wonder if they actually are better than the TRP Disc Brakes on my wife's bike.

I will be doing the same brakes on the rear, since they work so well.

 

Where we rode today - and beat the rain!

Wompy - https://wompy.org/map/

new goodies for the samba (Burley Bob)

So I am updating the Brakes from Deore to XT Parallelogram Vbrakes with Kool Stop Salmon Pads. 

The mail man rang the door to drop off my stokers Thudbuster seat post too. Someone is going to much happier on the rough pavement

Rocky Mounts R4 tandem rack

Picked up a tandem rack, this one is much better than the Thule or Yakama offerings, but I needed to find a way to mount on my Audi Aero Bars.

to do this I used the nuts from the square bar attachment as spacers and Allen Head bolts threaded into a square plate that is used to mount other items top the Aero Bars

Now I need a replacement handlebar strap so a quick visit to their website

https://rockymounts.com/products/tandem-mount-r4

and correspondence with their Customer Service rep - BTW Collin there is a rock star - strap is on the way until then I will keep using a Park HBH-2

Long Bike on Long roof

NIB Arai Drum/Drag Brake

I have a NewIn Box Drum brake for Burley Bob, need to order the Quick disconnect kit from Tandems East and get a friction shifter for the handle bars. This is everything in the box and it looks like I'm "Good to Go (or Stop).

Easy Updates as we go on this first ride journey

Broke out the old red pin spanner and adjusted the eccentrics to set timing and tension on the chain

Got rid of the "Flip-Flops" friendly pedals and put commuter SPD on for both the captain and stoker

cleaned up and painted the repair, the Rustoleum Blue was a great match just no "sparkle)

yes I need to get a new seat collar but the Perrier can shim will work for now

now our first big shakedown ride (lots of tools went on this trip)

the run was great I have a great co-piolt. No mechanical issues, no complaints

How Does one get here to this crazy plan

So, tandem is at my house now, lets see what I have

Chain is with-in the end service life before having to swap out

Shifters are a mid level Shimano rapid fire not the original Grip shift but still 7 speed (for now)

Brakes have been upgraded swapped around -Silver Deore up front Black Deore out back

Sora front shifter and a new long cage Alivio in the rear

Wheels look to be Shimano Tandem HF5 (LX level) hubs and Sun rims

Some crazy granny hi rise handle bar up front and the original Ritchey handle bar out back

pedals are currently flip flop friendly - not for long

The reason it was sidelined was the captains seat collar split from not having min insertions of a seat post

this has been repaired and now uses a 26.4mm seat post vs the 26.6 it came with

I do have a portable park work stand but finding using an older Allens rack on my porch works MUCH better for a tandem

Start of the Burley Samba experience

So a little Back ground, in the early 90's I helped start up a Bicycle Shop on the tip of the Cape. Hired on as the lead (only) mechanic the owner Bill put a lot of trust in this "kid" Ptown Bike is now the largest full service bike shops on the cape with focal brands such as TREK (I have a farley EX) and Specialized (Tricia has a Sirius Womens Carbon pro) Our rental fleet at the time, consisted of Mongoose bikes (a couple hundred) back when they were owned by Service Cycle and a LBS not box store brand, with the new to market grip shift. to up our game we added two tandems from Burley Spin the time machine foward to 2020 and in conversation with the bike sho owner I mentioned I was looking to get a tandem for my wife and I to do Rail to Trail ridingI had just picked up a rocky Mounts R4 tandem carrier too. Much to my surprise he stated that tandems were not feasble any longer and that he had one in the warehouse rafters if I wanted it but it needed work and a stoker seat post and seat. So the journey begins with Burley Bob the tandem (its actually a 2003 Samba, not one of the ones I built and maintained) for your viewing pleasure here is how I found him.