Tribute to the Columbia #48 a 1897 Tandem Bicycle

[Powder Keg]

Like always I have way too many projects going on. This one is in danger of being operational soon so I thought I'd make a post about it. I've been poking away at this for a year now. Off and on:o) It's a modern version of a old tandem bicycle. It will have Disc brakes, a 8 speed Sturmey Archer rear hub, and be welded up out of modern Chrome molly Steel tube.

Here is a page out of the catalog.



I started with a front hub. I want this sucker to stop if needed so we built a hub that will hold 2 disc brakes. Here is how they started.



A little CNC time and the disc brake bolt holes and the spoke holes were drilled. I also profiled the ends a little.



Back onto my lathe and I found this under all that aluminum.





I took the hub over to my buddy and he polished it up for me. He's a pretty great guy:o)



I think it turned out pretty good.



The eccentric bottom brackets that we bought had a ton of clearance in them. We thought it was too much and I decided to machine some new pieces.



A little cutting and a lot of filing and these appeared\o/



Here it is with the eccentric installed.



The outside will clamp on the eccentric to keep the chains tight. We made some little clamp pieces. Here they are tacked into place. Later I will braze them on. After I braze them on I'll slit the bottom bracket and they will become clamps.



The drop outs on this will be the modern style. I turned these on my lathe and then milled a slot in each one. These are for the rear wheel.



I made some extras for my buddy.



The frame went went together pretty fast. Another buddy of mine has a frame table and did most of the frame for me.



We made the chain stays out of 3/4" round tube. It is squished and dimpled so the tire clears it. The dropouts were tacked on. With the rear wheel we got everything close.



My buddy has a jig to check to see if the dropouts were still lined up after welding. we were off a little.



A little muscle.



And we're good to go\o/



Then we made the seat stays and welded them on.



An action shot just because:o)



I think this bike looks neat because it has a set of upper chain stays. We got them welded on. They were some fork tubes that were lying around.



They turned out pretty nice:o) Here is the back wheel all laced up with the 8 speed and new shoes\o/



Getting pretty excited now. She will be longer than the Queen Marry I think.



Here is where I am now. I'm picking it up on Friday and it will be mine to finish. I still need to get seats and pedals. I have to figure out the steering. This will steer from both seats so I need to make a linkage. I'll be trying to get this done pretty quickly.

Thanks for watching.

~Wes~

[Sid_Vicious]

Nice, I really like the look of this bike.

[Jasonb]

That has come together nicely, certainly looks long but I'm used to looking a old photos of my father who used to race tandems and they had short wheelbase frames with curved rear seat posts so the wheel could be tucked tight in against the BB.

I take it you will be stoker and your other half captain as you have gone for the step through, at least with twin steering you won't have to trust here judgment

J

[micktoon]

 Wow Wes , that looks super cool design , I am looking forward to seeing it progress , how is the penny farthing coming on, are you still doing a few spokes now and then ? I can imagine it doing your head in but will be worth it in the end 

  Cheers Mick

[Divided he ad]

Looks pretty sweet Wes 

Looks like it'll be a lot of fun 



Now, What's happened to the Penny Farthing?    



Talk about a huge project list!! 







Ralph.

[Meldonmech]

Hey Wes,
                 What a great project, you are going to feel elated when you take her out on her maiden run.

                                                        Well Done    Cheers  Meldonmech

[Powder Keg]

Thanks Guys!

Thanks Ralph:o) A lot of my projects depend on what is going on in my life. This tandem for instance. I traded a friend, some stuff, for this frame. I was going to help build it. He quit his job and started working for himself. I knew he was busy so I haven't bugged him a whole lot for it. A couple weeks ago he told me he was moving out of state. I started thinking that we better get it done:o) So here we are. I still think of the penny every day.

~Wes~

[Divided he ad]

I still think of the penny every day.

At least it's on your mind 


You're gonna get pretty damn fit riding all these bikes too 





As always, looking forward to seeing what it ends up like 





Ralph.