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Sold my KHS tandem and bought a Goldwing. We still have two more tandems...

Who likes old skool Sportsters? This '68 Sporty is in Nova Scotia.Real gold leaf paint is vintage. Bike parked 30 years.

I "rented" my '52 Claud Butler tandem out for a music video. The theme was about the guy missing his stoker, hence the empty seat.. Watching your bike get stolen from a stranger is worse! Yes. I did get it back.

Someone posted about removing rust stains from cotton rim strips with oxalic acid... I'd give that a try.

Now that's where I work on my bikes, too. Right in front of the furnace door in River Hebert NS

I posted my 1964 snowblower in "what did you ride today" but was booted off, even though it has two wheels and handlebars... so I thought it safe to post here. I had it sandblasted and powdercoated candy purple around 20 years ago, but it's been in storage for 7 years and I just refurbished it...

Check out my Resillion brakes cable thread for more tandem brake info.

I've got a U.S. Hame co. Vintage pipe wrench made in Buffalo in the 1920's. Never knew they made bikes too!

1952 Claud Butler Ladyback tandem on our balcony last year. 4 strings of mini LEDs decked her out nicely!

You can order ball bearings from McMaster-Carr.

At least he got the day right. Not long ago JD posted show and tell on a Saturday...lol

Well, the tandem may only be 21 yrs old, and that hardly counts as an old bike here here, but the vintage Willie & Max bags have carried their share of goods.

Three door Suburbans back in 67-72 were common.

The "C" in the frame member signifies post war. Pre war models had a tapered slot. The "47"is the year of mfg.

A most impressive attempt at a very challenging project! You really did try every route, but sometimes our own skills are the only option.

So, after countless hours researching and fabricating components in the shop, many dollars purchasing parts, not including international shipping and four pages of discussion here, I FOUND MY UNICORN! Of course I bought it. Turns out this looks like the elusive "Ladyback" length, which happens...

I just checked the date code on the cyclo derailleur. It's 1950, like the cranks.

Thank you for that detailed description! Because the shifter actually still works freely, I've been reluctant to replace it. I do have two tandem length cables, cause I wasn't sure how the cable was assembled. I thought I might need to splice them at the shifter. But I have a better grasp of...

Claud Butler tandem left out in the snow as a Christmas decoration. Time to bring him back inside!

When I decided to tackle this project, I chose the route of "All New" modern components. Because finding the original style sheathing was not panning out. So, I chose silver Jagwire housing with a slippery lining, and polished stainless cables. I had to modify the ends to fit the resilion...

Wow that's NICE!!!

I think most bikes that were optioned with Resilion brakes were men's singles. Then a smattering of men's tandems...then the unicorn ladyback tandem. So in the men's version, it's just a loop down from the cross bar as opposed to the almost 180 degree loop from the seat post where a bell crank...

Yes, you nailed it with the quirkiness of the historic components, considering what was available, in England by 1952. Those days imports were taxed to death, even worse than the staggering tax on English goods, which would encourage buyers to shop at home. It's equipped with Airlite hubs and...

I had to rebuild the headset and all 4 pedals in a hurry, because old Claud got himself a gig on a music video... so, no pictures, but the serial number on the steer tube matched the frame.. Try this link: The theme is that he misses his girl, and the visual is the empty tandem seat. It's...

I chose to mount the cable on the mid- cross bar, because of how it fit, but as you can see, it does fit across the boom tube as well. The boom tube fit was how it was purchased I'm not sure which way is correct yet. I plan on making brass cable clamps to finish the job, once I've made a new...

First mid cable take-up at captain's seatpost The final take-up fits inside the splitter housing, mounted on the stoker's seatpost, then there are two more adjustable sleeves on each canteliver to tune and centre the brake pad on the rim.

The narrow wall shown in the pictures is only as deep as the flattened crimp feature. The inside dia of the small diameter functions to sleeve the adjuster and is thicker walled, just to provide a sliding fit for the take-up, and support the hex adjusting nut at the face.

I thought this bike was pre-war, but a couple features point to 1952. Serial number for these years is pretty well documented. Williams cranks dates to 1950. Seems old, but not unusual To have 2 yr old stock for tandem specific items.. Cyclo gears are post-war "C" design And mid rails between...

Now that all the machining was done, it was time to assemble it. I made a jig to locate each sub assembly so I could silver solder the splitter junction I used the original assembly to fit some aluminum angle that I machined, then mounted each piece to a plastic base. You can see the cable...

This is one side of the part of the cable that terminates at each canteliver. The slotted tee mounts on each leg of the canteliver. Then, there is a spring inside hollowed out telescoping sleeves that give the tension when pulling the cable. I got the springs from Mcmaster-Carr, sized from...

The take up adjuster was crafted using S.A.E. threads that look close. Original on the left.

Every ferrule was hand turned. These originally would probably have been made on a multi spindle screw machine.

I soaked the brakes in evaporust. They cleaned up nice. The replacement koolstops fit really close. You can see the unfinised threaded hex stud here. Original thread is something like 3/16-24 british bicycle oddness which no tap can be readily found. I believe a M5 metric hex nut fit best...

Now on to the rest of the bits. Lunchtime at work is an hour. This gives me time to plan and get little steps done through the week. The steps made developing the oval shape using the form tool. The effects of different material hardness

I ordered soft formable brass from Mcmaster-Carr . This shot shows the form tool and various attempts at getting something that looked good and functioned as original. Remember each attempt needed a newly machined brass blank.

I started with the hardest component, the splitter housing. My first few attempts were not successful. I made a forming tool out of aluminum to hold the shape while I pressed it.

So, the stuff came. Now it was my turn to get busy on the lathe. Here's what thes brakes look like bolted to the seatstay

Here's Claud when I got him. The rear brake cable is the most complex assembly known to cycling! As seen here, it threads down round the captain's bb, where there's a take-up assembly, then splits on its way up the curved stoker seatpost, where another take-up assembly fits inside the splitter...

So, looking at the cable, I decided to clone the assembly with modern cables and housings, rather than take it apart to harvest the fittings. I reasoned that since I couldn't find original cloth covered cable housing, I'd fabricate the assembly adhering to the original sample I had. Fully...

After years of being a lurking Caber, I have chosen to share some projects on my 1952 Claud Butler Ladyback Tandem. It's not in the mainstream of TOC or balloon tire tank bikes, but may be seen as general entertainment and knowledge. When I acquired this very complete bike, it was rideable...

I found this cool antique tire pump online. Im thinking of picking it up this weekend. It's a Sidel-Rattner hand pump made in Brooklyn, NY. They don't seem to be very popular, but five minutes of digging revealed a patent date of 1920. Not much history about the company, or if it was targeted...

Wow, I'm astounded at these fast responses! Thank you Cabers! These balloon tire tank bikes weren't part of our mainstream Canadian selection when I was growing up. We had Canadian Tire Supercycle, CCM and Raleigh as the big sellers.

This bike showed up a few weeks ago and was recently relisted. It's $550 CDN($435US) and close enough to make the trip. She's listed as a 1932 Shelby. I'm guessing that's wrong, and the owner may not know how to value it. So, not being knowledgeable about it, is there any reason I should go...

Well, I never visited Bob's bikes, but I've had a few good meals on Pine in the Falls.

I love these English 3 speeds and have had a few. The 23 inch frame is nice, but the smaller 21 inch frames have a surprisingly close, but tighter feel. I still prefer the 23 inch.

Thanks for the excellent products! Highly recommended.

Interested in clips & straps!