Two Recent Finds

Two very different and interesting pieces of my past work recently surfaced and were brought to my attention.

The first is a tandem built in England in 1975 recently showed up in Scotland when it was offered on eBay.

It was bought by Ewen Docherty, who sent me pictures, it has two sets of twin lateral tubes front and rear.

Probably one of the simplest and most sturdy of the various tandem frame configurations I built over the years.

Ewen is in the process of stripping down and re-building the bike. He sent these pictures after he had cleaned up the original paint on the frame. Not bad for 39 years old.

I nicknamed tandems “Tantrums.” I would invariably have one while building a tandem frame. The problem was a tandem frame was more than twice the amount of work of two single frames, however, it sold for less than the price of two singles, so I was screwed before I even started.

Just physically handling the frame while working on it was a pain. Every time you move it in the vise, you have to hold the frame in one hand as you tighten the vise with the other. This is no problem with a single frame, but with the size and the weight of a tandem frame it is a whole different story.

Often I could not turn away work, and people would pester me to build one for them, so I agreed. When I first came to the US I built a few tandems at Paris Sport.

But, when I started my own business again in Southern California, I vowed I would never build another tandem frame. I always said there was not enough money that anyone could offer the get me to build one more. No one ever tested me by offering a lot of money, so no more were ever built.

Having said all that, finishing a tandem frame did give more than twice the satisfaction of two singles, and that still goes for today when I see one.

The second bike to show up just this week is a Recherché, owned by Stephen Bryne from Ventura, California. When Stephen first emailed me he threw me a curve. When he described the decals and gave me the frame number 001A, it didn’t jibe with the Recherché frames I built and I feared he had a bootleg version.

However, when he sent photos I could see it was the genuine article, the scalloped treatment of the tube ends at the front and rear drop-outs was one clue. (See right.)

This was also a rare find and was a part of the history of the Recherché brand. Here is the story that I have told before but bears repeating.

In 1985 two young brothers Kent and Kyle Radford owned a bike store in Rancho Benardo, CA, just north of San Diego.

They wanted their own brand of bike they could sell in their store, and also market around Southern Calafornia. They had a name, Recherché, and a decal design, I agreed to build the frames.

Kent and Kyle were both avid bike riders, so it was natural that the first Recherché frames I built would be for them. Kent got a 53cm. frame number 001, and the last I heard he still owns it today.

The frame I built for the younger brother Kyle was a 56cm. and I stamped it 001A. That way both got a number one frame.

This is that very same frame. It has been repainted, hence the different decals.

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1975 Tandem

Colin Williamson who lives in the West Midlands area of the UK, sent me pictures of a tandem frame I built in 1975.

He bought the tandem from the original owner about 15 years ago and used it for light touring with his wife. Then three years ago he stripped the frame and had it repainted. He then rebuilt it as a racing tandem.

Together with his stoker Dave, (He didn’t give a second name.) Colin won a couple of tandem time trials last season.

I still have my frame number register book for frames built in England; this one happens to be the first tandem frame I built. Nice to know that 36 years later it is still being put to good use.

The frame size is 23 inches (58 cm.) front, and 21 inch (53 cm.) rear. From the picture above, it appears that the frame fits Colin and Dave as if it were built for them. There is no wasted space between the two riders, and Dave’s knees barely clear the rear handlebars.

The two riders are members of the Solihull Cycling Club, and compete in the “Veterans” class, with a combined age of 115 years. The pair have recorded a 21 minute 10 mile event, and a 53 minute 25 mile time trial.

I did a quick count, and it appears that I built 25 tandem frames in the UK from 1975 to 1978; I also built maybe 2 or 3 while I was at Paris Sport from 1979 to 1980.

Another tandem I built in 1978, (Picture above.) was  ridden by Paul Swinnerton, (Front.) and Trevor Gadd (Stoker.) in the World Championships that year. The event was the tandem sprint event.

To witness these two powerful young athletes muscle this machine around a banked track at speeds approaching 55mph, was both inspiring, but at the same time, a little frightening for me knowing that I had built it.

                         

Would you buy it, strip it, dump the frame?

A Paris Sport tandem that I built in 1980 has been up for sale on SF Craigslist for a few weeks now. The price is right at $1,000 and there maybe several reasons why it hasn’t sold yet.

Craigslist doesn’t have the safeguards that eBay has so you really need to go look at something before you buy. That limits potential buyers to people within driving distance of Sacramento, where the tandem happens to be.

No one buys a bike unless it fits them; here you have a machine that has to fit two people. Therefore limiting potential buyers still further, unless someone buys it first then goes out to find a partner to fit the other half.

I am in no way connected to this sale, but I do happen to believe this sale is genuine. I have previously corresponded with the owners, who are the original owners. I also wrote about this one in a blog (July 2006)

This morning the sale was mentioned here, and I quote from the post: “I reckon someone might want it just for Phil Wood stuff...”



WTF. Has the value of my work sunk so low that someone would suggest buying it just to strip it of a few of the component parts?

Now you can call me over sensitive, or call me an egotistical MF, but when I read something like this, it is like a swift kick in the bollocks.

Tantrums

Tantrums: That was the nick name I gave to tandems; building them was for me a love/hate thing. The problem building a tandem is in the fact that it is more than twice the work of building two single frames, but they do not command the price of two singles. So I knew I was screwed financially every time someone talked me into building one. I would cuss and swear all through the building of it (Hence tantrums.) and would promise myself I would never build another.

I will say that once the tandem frame was built I did get double the satisfaction in seeing the finished product. Time would pass and someone else would come along and ask me to build them a tandem frame; I would say “No” they would whine and beg and eventually I would give in, and the whole process would start over.

Working on a single frame whether it be brazing it or filing the lug work after; you simply hold the frame in one hand, place a wooden block around a tube and clamp it in the vise with the other hand.

With a tandem frame it is so big, heavy and unwieldy that it takes two hands to hold it; you rest one end of it on something while you let go with one hand to put the wooden block in place. Next you carry it to the vise and try to tighten it using your knee. Invariably the wooden block falls off during the process and the result is more tantrums.



There is one tandem frame that I am particularly proud of and may have actually enjoyed building it. It is the track tandem pictured here and at the top of the page and it was ridden in the 1978 World Championships by Roy Swinnerton and Trevor Gadd representing Great Brittain. Seeing two very powerful young riders get up to speeds of 55 mph. on a banked oval track is both satisfying and at the same time very frightening.

I built a few tandems when I first moved to the US in 1979 and I worked for Paris Sport; here is one of them.


Later I went to work for Masi in Southern California and in 1982 started my own business there. On doing so I promised myself I would never build another tandem.

I was asked several times but I always said “You can’t offer me enough money to get me to build one.” And no one ever offered enough that I was even close to being tempted.