I like riding a fixed gear bike and have for a long time. My best bike riding friend, Melanie, also likes the fixed gear. The two of us have also put several thousand miles on a tandem together. So, naturally, we'd wonder about the efficacy of riding a fixed gear tandem.
We had our first serious consideration of that notion when we saw a 70's Fastab Miura tandem sitting in a storage room in a friend's soon-to-be-sold house. Melanie negotiated a rescue mission and the project began.
Yeah, I call it "metallic beige".
It really couldn't be ridden. Everything about it screamed cobbled together. However, it had a few good points: Reynolds 531 tubing, long horizontal dropouts, TA Cyclotouriste cranks, and Campagnolo seat post binders. Yeah, that's about it.
The work begins by taking it all apart. This is the most satisfying part of the project in that it's hard to go wrong. Everything will come off, eventually.
I took it to Lorac, the powercoating operation south of downtown Wichita. It came back looking like this:
Red *is* faster.
I ordered a custom Phil rear track hub with 48 holes so I could lace up a bona-fide tandem fixed gear wheel.
Bikes are like legos. They're fun to build up and take apart. Here's the build up:
Some old parts, some new. Many parts were found at the 2015 Velo Swap in Denver: Sun Rims, Brooks Saddles, SPD and Frog Pedals, stoker handlebars, handlebar tape. Some were purchased new, like the brakes, chains, cables, fixed cog. By the end of January, 2016, it was road-ready.
