Tandem has Arrived

iarocu said:

Any comments regarding crank shorteners would be welcomed. This
months CTC magazine had an item about a type of crank shorteners which
bolt onto the existing pedal holes and clamp onto the crank arm. Any
good?

About all I can tell you is that the URL published in Cycle is out of
date, you want <URL:http://www.highpath.aaugonline.net/>. And the crank
shorteners haven't yet made it onto the website.

I'm quite tempted to get some to allow me to try out different crank
lengths, if they're significantly cheaper than new cranks. My only
worry is that they look as though they would significantly increase the
Q-factor.

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

Reply to iarocu

Quoted message said:

The only flaw in a pretty good spec for the cash is that both front
and rear cranks are 170mm. But then I believe many manufacturers don't
bother varying crank length with frame size which seems like a common
sense thing to do.

The latest edition of CTC's Cycle magazine mentions Chris Bell's crank
shorteners (by coincidence, I'd been thinking about tracking a pair
down to try on the bent). The link they give appears to be wrong;
this one -

http://www.highpath.aaugonline.net/index.html

appears to be right. They might be worth a try, and if you do and
don't like them, you can always pass them on to me! :-)

--
Mark, UK.
We hope to hear him swear, we love to hear him squeak,
We like to see him biting fingers in his horny beak.

Reply to Danny Colyer

Oops I not only didn't read the original post correctly, but I posted
before reading yours - I was happily windowshopping those hand-
polished customised chainrings...

--
Mark, UK.
We hope to hear him swear, we love to hear him squeak,
We like to see him biting fingers in his horny beak.

iarocu said:

Yes I have now got my Dawes Discovery Twin 2003 model ex demo £650.

Enjoy it. I'm sure you will :-)

Quoted message said:

Initial impressions from using the bike locally are it seems to
get given roadspace from car drivers. I don't know whether it was from
the novelty value of it being a tandem or whether its the fact the
stoker was a child that resulted in this.

I have found the same on anything other than a standard bike. IMO I
don't think its having a child on board, rather more the fact that you
actually get noticed because you are something different.
I'm not sure many drivers really consciously register ordinary bikes at
all :-(

Quoted message said:

Any comments regarding crank shorteners would be welcomed. This
months CTC magazine had an item about a type of crank shorteners which
bolt onto the existing pedal holes and clamp onto the crank arm. Any
good?

If possible go for cranks that already come in shorter lengths, or
possibly have have new pedal threads cut higher up an existing crank.
Add on shorteners can increase the width between the feet, causing some
quite severe splaying of the legs and some nasty forces on the joints.
This is even more so with children with their shorter legs.
I'd avoid such shorteners.

John B

In article <[email hidden]>, iarocu

Quoted message said:

Any comments regarding crank shorteners would be welcomed. This
months CTC magazine had an item about a type of crank shorteners
which bolt onto the existing pedal holes and clamp onto the crank
arm. Any good?

In the good old days we would just have bolted wooden platforms onto
the pedals :-)

--
A T (Sandy) Morton
on the Bicycle Island
In the Global Village
http://www.millport.net

Any comments regarding crank shorteners would be welcomed. This

Quoted message said:

months CTC magazine had an item about a type of crank shorteners which
bolt onto the existing pedal holes and clamp onto the crank arm. Any
good?

Try looking at the tandem club website.

http://www.tandem-club.org.uk/

The discussion board is very useful and you dont have to be a member to
post.

I have seen kiddy cranks on ebay although not very often.

--
replace deadspam with btinternet to reply
Tom Anderson
Leighton Buzzard
England

Sandy Morton said:

In article <[email hidden]>, iarocu

Quoted message said:

Any comments regarding crank shorteners would be welcomed. This
months CTC magazine had an item about a type of crank shorteners
which bolt onto the existing pedal holes and clamp onto the crank
arm. Any good?

In the good old days we would just have bolted wooden platforms onto
the pedals :-)

I did that on the kiddiecranks on our tandem trike, but only to bring
the feet and saddle closer when youngster was really titchy.
It doesn't have any effect on the turning circle of the feet.

John B

iarocu said:

Any comments regarding crank shorteners would be welcomed. This
months CTC magazine had an item about a type of crank shorteners which
bolt onto the existing pedal holes and clamp onto the crank arm. Any
good?

We used them when the girls were smaller. Worked well and have three pedal
holes so they can grow with the child. I have a couple of pairs of Swallow
Tandem ones left over from those days if you're interested.

Tony

"Tony Raven" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

iarocu said:

Any comments regarding crank shorteners would be welcomed. This
months CTC magazine had an item about a type of crank shorteners which
bolt onto the existing pedal holes and clamp onto the crank arm. Any
good?

We used them when the girls were smaller. Worked well and have three pedal
holes so they can grow with the child. I have a couple of pairs of Swallow
Tandem ones left over from those days if you're interested.

I would be interested. Could you e-mail me with details.
Iain

iarocu said:

Any comments regarding crank shorteners would be welcomed. This
months CTC magazine had an item about a type of crank shorteners which
bolt onto the existing pedal holes and clamp onto the crank arm. Any
good?

I e-mailed Highpath about them and was extremely impressed by the speed
of the reply. I sent my e-mail at 22:20 on Saturday and the reply
appears to have been sent less than 3 hours later.

Anyway, the crank shorteners are provisionally priced at 60 quid a pair.
They also offer a crank shortening service for 15 quid each (or 20 for
a single crank).

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine