Tandem Rims – Update

Well I ordered the 2 x Velocity Synergy 650b rims, with custom 48 hole drillings today. Ken Self’s were very friendly and happy to help.

I did subsequently find out that Brick Lane Bikes are the UK importers so could have done it via them perhaps, but it’s sort of nice going via my old LBS, and may also be less hassle as my parents were visiting here anyway so I don’t have to go across London to collect.

Looking forward to seeing these rims now. Will look into spoke options but I’m thinking Sapim Strong or similar single butted spokes, at least for the rear drive side.

Also, now I know that Velocity are so good to deal with, my mind is going to other custom drilling options, like paired spokes and even maybe tripled spokes (eg 36 holes in 12 groups of 3…)

Hmmm that could be fun for another project.

Back to the Tandem

Talking to my lovely wife the other evening we decided sod it, let’s get on with the tandem. I have been holding off buying the rims on the (extremely, stupidly, remote)  offchance that I’d find some cheaper on eBay. Yeah, like you find 48 hole 650b rims kicking around on eBay every other week…

Anyway we agreed to go ahead and buy those old stock 650b Wolber rims I saw on SJS cycles. At £50 each they were pricey, but they are also good quality, strong classics. Trouble is, they are all sold now. Moral: never hesitate.

Hmm back to the drawing board. A few disconsolate trawls of eBay and Google with no luck. Saw a few tandems going cheap, but none like what I have in mind.

In my trawls however I was reminded of an earlier search which had turned up Velocity as a manufacturer of 650b rims. I decided again to try and find a distributor in the UK. Anyone who is interested in 650b mountain bikes will have heard of Velocity rims. They are an Australian manufacturer and have gained quite a reputation for excellent cycle rims, with a fair sized following in the USA. What is more they make all sorts of sizes including 650b. They even do 650A (590 mm) but even I have to agree that’s pretty obscure, although one of our old 3-speed town bikes does have them and they look great with white wall tyres.

So, I found Velocity’s US web site easily enough, but a UK site was nonexistent. And finding Velocity’s Australian web site wasn’t easy either until I found a link on the US site. Anyway having found them I dropped them an email and asked if they’d do a Velocity Synergy 650b 48 hole version. After a few days I had a friendly email saying they are going to do a batch in silver soon and I could buy them via a reseller.

Now as luck would have it, I’m an ex-pat Aussie so I looked up their list of resellers and found one near my parents’ place, Ken Self Cycles. By a coincidence my first 10 speed in the 1970’s was a beautiful silver Ken Self with 27 x 1 1/4″ wheels . I did a load of cycle tours on that bike in my teens and sadly it was stolen when I was about 20.

Anyway, enough on that. I’m sitting up waiting until midnight so I can give Ken Self’s a call to ask about ordering the rims. Not a lot else to do so may as well update the blog. I did email them but I’m not sure how often they check their email as there hasn’t been a response. Probably as often as they update their blogs, bless ’em.

From what I remember they were a brilliant local bike shop and there is something nice about going back to them from the other side of the world to buy a part some 30 years after they sold me my first decent bike.

How will I get them to the UK? Easy – my parents are coming to London later this year. Hope they’re travelling light!

Bernie’s Dayton

Well the weather has been too good to sit inside blogging so I have been out on the road as much as possible. Over Easter I finally met Bernie, and more importantly perhaps, his Dayton Elite.

Bernie and his Dayton, me and the Falcon

I met up with Bernie in Richmond Park, on a stunningly hot Easter day. His (clearly very understanding) daughter accompanied him and kindly managed the photography for us. His Dayton really is in excellent condition, especially when I compare it with my poor old rusted example. It is such a pity he has lost the original drivetrain, but he’s done a fine job resurrecting it with newer parts and the old Simplex derailleur he found looks the part.

Having now seen a Dayton in the metal, so to speak, I am definitely motivated to make this the year for my Dayton’s resurrection. Right now it is still waiting, safe and dry, in my store room for me to find someone who can reproduce the decals. I toyed briefly with taking a “grunge” approach and simply preserving it as it is, but returning it to rideability. But the chrome and the paint are so utterly terrible it’d just look hideous and the old girl deserves better.

My one concession to modernisation, probably, will be to add alloy rims, primarily as the old steel ones really seem thoroughly rotted. But they will be laced onto the original hubs and I will use all the original gears and drivetrain (well, a new chain will be needed). I have found a 40 spoke rear rims, a Mavic Module 4, but I’m yet to find a suitable 32 spoke front rim of similar design. I will try, I promise, to resurrect the old rims but I think the rust is too extensive and they will probably fall apart. I will however keep them for posterity along with any other bits which need to be replaced (very few I hope).