Re: [CR]Tandems an American invention

(Example: Racing:Roger de Vlaeminck)

In-Reply-To: <p0602040fbc404d752ae2@[10.0.1.3]>
References: <a0521063abc4015a9099c@[68.166.14.156]>
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 10:46:16 -0800
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: "Jan Heine" <heine93@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [CR]Tandems an American invention
cc: sheldonb@198.65.246.124

Sheldon,
>>but... I still prefer the Taylors and Herse tandems. And I have
>>ridden many for long distances (about 15 modern tandems, although,
>>admittedly, no Santana).
>
>In the back?

Both front and back. However, I find it hard to comment on a tandems' steering characteristics while riding in the back. And that is where the old ones score.
>
>It's certainly true that there were a great many very fine tandems
>made in the 30s, 40s, even '50s, especially in France. Here's the
>history as I understand it:

You'll find more detail in the next VBQ...
>
>Up to the beginning of WW2, tandems were quite popular, and were
>built with lots of tandem-specific parts, so they were quite
>reliable.

Tandem weights and sophistication at the trials saw even more dramatic results than single bikes. I'd say that the biggest jump in sophistication was 1936-39.
>
>During WW2, obviously, everybody had better things to do than to
>build tandems.

Not true. Builders especially in Paris built many bikes during the war. Tandems, too. Like any occupying army, the Germans brought lots of money to Paris. See the E. Csuka interview in VBQ vol. 1, No. 1.
>
>After WW2, 50cc motorcycles, scooters and mopeds became available.
>They offered the "glamor" of motorized transport, they would carry
>two, and they didn't cost any more than a good tandem. As a result,
>the bottom fell out of the tandem market.

Not true. The bicycle market collapsed only in 1952 or so. 1945-1952 saw many bikes sold, as a good bike was an important status symbol. Tandems were quite popular, too. See aforementioned E. Csuka interview.

Late 50s through 60s were dead for tandems. At the 1962 Salon de Paris, only one tandem, at the Herse stand. Nobody else bothered even to show one.
>
>In the late '60s-early '70s interest in tandems began to revive, but
>by that time tandem specific headsets, lugs, tubesets and other
>specialized parts had been out of production for a generation, so
>tandems of that era were built with mostly single-bike components,
>which were often marginal in tandem service. Most tandems of this
>era were very much inferior to the pre-war models.

True only for the mass-produced ones. An Herse or Singer from 1974 isn't much worse than an Herse or Singer from 1954. The parts were available: Reynolds oversize tubing, Maxi-Car tandem hubs, maybe they used NOS parts for headsets and a few minor items that may have been out of production. The lugs always were hand-made. The lesser makers just never bothered to spec the good (and expensive) stuff. Some of the newer derailleurs, like Huret Allvit, seem to work very well on tandems.
>
>Bill McCready ruffles a lot of feathers with his boastful
>advertising claims, but there's more truth than hype to them. He
>has truly been the great pioneer in the tandem renaissance.

He should get all the credit for popularizing tandems. It is largely due to him that today, tandems are more popular in the U.S. than any other country I know, including France. But he claims credit for inventing the things... Even the "modern" frame configuration (tube from headset to rear BB) that McCready invented was quite popular in the 1930s, until they decided that the twin laterals ("triangulation") made for a stiffer frame.
>
>Sheldon "http://sheldonbrown.com/tandem" Brown
>Newtonville, Massachusetts

--
Jan Heine, Seattle
Editor/Publisher
Vintage Bicycle Quarterly
http://www.mindspring.com/~heine/bikesite/bikesite/