Globetrotter was the brand name used by the Tandem Centre on the Old Kent Road in SE London in the 1970s and 80s - their frames and bikes were not not highly thought of ... they did solo bikes too and in the mid 80s I had a customer come to me for advice about his frame. He did have long legs (38in) but they had built him a 28in frame with a 12.5in high BB out of standard size tubing. Needless to say it did not work for him. I designed a frame which Tom Board built with a 26in seat tube, 1 1/8in TT and a plain gauge cro-moly seat tube combined with an 11in high BB. This he was very pleased with...
I suspect Arthur Rowland may possibly have the framebuilder for the Tandem Centre but do not have any evidence.
Hilary Stone, Bristol, British Isles
Hilarystone.com Period bicycle frames & parts
On 10/02/2011 23:03, Hugh Thornton wrote:
>
> A google search deosn't seem to turn up any info on this guy - as you probably know. Why not ask the man for his son's phone number and talk to him direct - you will probably get a good sense of whether he is legit or not.
>
> Hugh Thornton
> Cheshire, England
>
> --- On Thu, 10/2/11, David Vines<dvines@dvines.plus.com> wrote:
>
> From: David Vines<dvines@dvines.plus.com>
> Subject: [CR] Arthur Rowland Tandem Frames - UK
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Date: Thursday, 10 February, 2011, 22:23
>
> Hi All,
>
> I have been offered a Tandem frame which the vendor (in Swanage/Studland Dorset UK) claims is NOS and built by his son Arthur Rowland who was a framebuilder in the UK and has now emigrated to Canada and is now building over there
>
> he appears to have number of these frames and also some complete "Globetrotter" tandems for sale, the complete tandems are being offered on Ebay.
>
> I have never heard of this builder and my only interest in the frame stems from the fact that it is a 25" front and I can't otherwise buy anything that big off-the-peg and would have to have it made at more than twice the price he is offering the frame only at £800....
>
> I am not entirely sure if the frame is "handbuilt" or actually just a stripped down one of these Globetrotters, which he's advertising on Ebay as "Craftsman Handbuilt" - I thought they were made in france by Gitane to a budget price.
>
> Does anyone know anything about this frame-builder or am I being led down the garden path to buy whats actually a cheap mass-produced frame done up as a handbuilt ......?
>
> The vendor is a long-way from me and claims not to be IT-savvy enough to send a picture my email (he sounds v elderly on the phone) so it means driving along-way to see it.
>
>
> David - UK