For Sale: Tony Oliver Custom Touring / Expedition Tandem with S&S couplings

Built by Tony Oliver in 1995 for me for a crossing of the Icelandic interior (see www.cyclingguides.com/resources/Call-of-the-Wild.pdf). Tony was a highly regarded frame builder known for the thought and applied science he used in his craft (see his book, Touring Bikes. I can also email an article about him).

Frame and forks
Reynolds 531 throughout except for the base tube which is CrMo. Steering geometry is 72.5° head angle and 66mm fork offset providing 36mm trail. Tandems with ‘low’ trail such as this have the best handling, meaning heavy luggage, or the stoker moving around remain easily controlled by the pilot, and yet the tandem is easily manoeuvrable. Many tandem builders get this wrong. Lugs are used for most joins which reduces the chance of distortion of the head and seat tubes both in the building and after years of use.

Given we had to carry 11-days of food and stove fuel, Tony built the frame (perhaps uniquely) to accommodate 1.5L fuel within the frame tubes - this is now just under 1 litre as S&S couplings have been added.

S&S couplings were retro-fitted by Argos Cycles (one of UK’s top frame builders) enabling the bike to be easily dived into two packages.

Frame size:
Pilot frame dimensions:
Seat tube 49.5cm (measured to top of lug), top tube 52.1cm.  Seat tube angle 75°. Standover height 74.9cm

Stoker frame dimensions:
Seat tube 43.2cm (measured to top of lug), top tube 65.0cm. Seat tube angle 74° (the rear comfortably accommodates  stokers from around 1.5m to 1.75m tall.). Standover height 69.8cm.

Bottom bracket heights 27.9cm.

The frame was high quality powder coated seven years ago and has had little use since. New decals and spares.

Includes front and rear custom pannier racks built by Tony, from seamless steel tubing, as he states ‘for use and abuse’.  The rear has a detachable sleeping mat / tent holder. The front rack is inclined towards the front, keeping weight closer to the axis point for better handling and high enough to be clear of the ground on rutted tracks.

The pilot drop bars are 44cm wide, fitted to an 11cm stem. The stoker bars are 45cm wide (reversible for a variety of positions or can fit straight MTB style bars if you prefer)

The headset is a relatively new 1 1/8in threaded Shimano XT with cartridge bearings. Sale comes with two new spare Shimano STX sealed cartridge headsets.

Braze-on fittings: 5 pairs bottle cage bosses, Front and rear custom rack fittings (will also take standard racks / low-riders). Integral fuel tank. Pump peg. Racks have light braze-ons.

Wheels
26in (559) 48 spoke wheels, on DT Hugi top-quality sealed-bearing tandem hubs (rear over-locknut width is 135mm), Sun Rhyno rims, stainless single-butted spokes. 26in (559) is still regarded as the most universal wheel size when touring outside of the developed world. Sale comes with two spare new Alex DH19 rims and 1 spare partly used Sun Reno rim. In a pinch any basic ‘old school’ MTB wheel can be fitted (front and rear) and can be found anywhere in the world. If you want the bike to come with the new rims fitted I can rebuild the wheels (and used to do this professionally).

The tyres are Schwalbe Marathon Dureme tandem specific, 47mm wide. These fit comfortably with the mudguards - up to around 50mm slick tyres could be fitted with the guards.

Transmission
3 x 8-speed, Shimano XT rear mech, SunTour  XC Pro front mech. Campagnolo Ergopower Veloce brifters (these are ’10’ speed but fully compatible).
 
Pilot cranks are TA 167.5mm length, Stoker are Thorn 145mm length. Shimano rear bottom bracket and top quality Royce titanium front bottom bracket. Will supply with extra set of TA 160mm rear tandem cranks (quite worn but still serviceable), and Royce bottom bracket to suit. All bottom brackets very smooth.

Pedals not included.

Brakes
Rare Campagnolo cantilever brakes (solidly made and with a lovely light feel).

In addition there is a rear Arai hub brake - these are no longer available but this one has recently been replaced with new (bought as a spare some years ago) and had little use since. Operated by a sturdy SunTour bar end shifter. Unlike disc brakes which are generally not designed for tandems, an external hub brake such as this is perfect for long mountain descents. Lock it on enough to control your speed - like a bit hand slowing you down - your hands are then free to fine tune your speed with the rim brakes, without the risk of overheating the rims (or warping rotors if you have disc brakes). The hub brake can get very hot but is still very effective and risk free, and means your rim brakes stay well within safe limits. The linings last many years. Removal tool included. See https://www.thorncycles.co.uk/tandem-braking for more info on tandem braking.

In summary, the tandem has not had heavy use and has been very well kept and maintained. No parts need replacement and it’s ready to tour. If the pilot handlebars are not suited to you let me know - I may be able to offer an alternative. It has been in storage a while,  so it will have a full service prior to sale. Sadly letting go as my wife has health issues and the phase with my children has now passed. Feel free to ask any questions or for more photos, or to come and take a look (the tandem is in Bristol). Maybe able to ship to UK addresses but collection preferred.