this list has "birthed" another bike in the shed. all this talk of tandems on the list recently has led me to purchase a 1977 paramount tandem. the only thing "original" as far as i can tell is the campy triple tandem crankset. it looks to have been repainted by Keith Anderson, with a KA stem painted to match - unfortunately i think the stem might be a bit long for me. the paint is chipped in several places but looks good from 10' away, and one of the cable guides needs replacing. if it really works out, then a repair/repaint may be in order.
wifey felt comfortable in the stoker seat, the SR MTE-100 post helps with that. btw, how sturdy are those? i think i'ld rather get a setback post. also the original stoker bar looks to be similar to a standard mtb riser bar. is that correct? what's on there now are some bullhorn bars that hit my legs, they need to go.
wheels - originally it came with campy HF 36h hubs on 27"rims. were these your standard campy HF hubs? i don't plan on going back to 27" wheels, so i'll probably lace something up to modern 700c rims. the wheels now are a mismatched pair of DT swiss Hugi rear cassette hub with threads for a drum and a Sachs new success front hub and mismatched 700c rims. i'ld like to get a matching set, one of my neuroses about bike stuff.
brakes - found in the archives about the mafac cantilevers and there being 3 sizes. how does one know which size is which? would you need to use mafac levers too? i'm also considering with going with modern Paul neo-retros. brakes are kind of the one thing i don't want to short-change myself on and i've used these before with success stopping and they still look the part. it currently has some cheap shimano canti's that barely worked on singles. i don't plan any long descents but would like my brakes to work when i need them.
drivetrain - has shimano deore with the stags head front and rear DR. i remember these worked well on mtbs back in the day, guessing they still work well. they have it shifting an 8sp cassette with bar-ends. if i modernized the drivetrain (gasp!), i'm guessing the campy triple would still work with 8/9sp chains. will it? this really will depend on what kind of wheelset I can manage, but i really don't want to replace the crankset either.
we've only ridden it around the neighborhood, but once i get a set of stoker bars and put on a shorter stem, we'll take it farther. wouldn't mind some feedback on what to look for to "upgrade" it over time. tandeming is a new thing for us. besides the beach cruiser tandems at the beach and borrowing a friends Burley - which didn't feel as comfy as this one, we haven't spent much time on them. btw, i paid $500 which i think was a reasonable price for the bike. we'll probably ride it as it is for a while before i really put more into it, but I kind of want a plan for changes.
Eric Acuna tandeming away with long posts in Santa Rosa, CA, USA