Another Bike Friday: Tandem Traveler XL

I've been keeping my eye out for a Bike Friday tandem for some time. One recently came up on the BF Yak email list. The price was great, but the seller didn't really know much about bikes to answer my questions. I took a chance and bought it. He shipped it from the west coast, some assembly required:

The BF tandems are meant to be taken apart, but the previous owner clearly didn't understand how. Every cable quick connector that was meant to be unscrewed was still together, while the cables were unbolted at random points. Small parts were wrapped in sticky duct tape, difficult to open. But even with his inflated shipping cost and poor packing job, I'm still happy with the deal I got.

To reverse this karma, when I sold my Jones, I used this same box to send it out to the west coast, packed very carefully. The buyer was happy to get it.

It took some time, but I got it back together:

The PO even had the bottle cage facing the wrong way, which would make bottle removal tricky:

The drivetrain was Shimano 9 speed, with the Sram 3 speed dual drive hub:

Alas, the shift lever on the dual drive was broken, and it was stuck in the easiest gear:

The DD hub has a backup drum brake to supplement the Avid cantis:

STI shifting up front on BF H bars. I was worried the fixed stem would be too short for me, but it's working OK so far with the extra forward extensions of the H bars:

I have a though to replace the bar and stem combo someday, and I'll probably go to V brakes at that point. But the skinny Schwalbe tires had to go ASAP:

My mom didn't know what to get me for my birthday, but it turns out a pair of Maxxis Grifters in 1.85" were just my size:

More comfort and they roll better:

I also swapped out the pedals, saddles, and replaced the heavy rear wheel with a normal one. Now it's a 1x9 setup, which is adequate for around here.

I've been putting some miles on it now with my usual stoker:

I like it a lot better than the Trek tandem. It seems more lively, and I appreciate the lower Q factor of the normal Shimano cranks--since the drivechains are all on the right side, the BF uses normal cranks. Nice. Sam has more room in the stoker cockpit, and we both like the easy standover. Sam also likes using the bar ends as an alternate hand position.

We found the giant carp again at the Avery park pond on our first big ride:

Henry and Kate have both been on it as well. Kate is fine with it, but the Thudbuster is too soft and boingy for Henry's weight. When we rode to the park for an afternoon of lazing in the hammock and outdoor reading and chess:

Henry ended up riding Sam's bike back home.

After getting the new tandem dialed in, Sam and I took a back to back loop on both tandems. We both strongly preferred the BF. More comfortable, faster, and it's a BF. I'm slowly turning into a BF fanboy. I sold the Trek last weekend, so we're back down to one tandem.