How to build your own tandem?

Good question, perhaps you can give us some tips! Haha. I’m just messing. But something exciting is about to happen for MtnBikeRiders.com. You may recall that we were in the process of building our own tandem mountain bike to do super cool stuff with like eating tacos and drinking diet sodas while riding down a gnarly hill. This weekend will be the start of this project, and it should be pretty epic to say the least. Hmm. I like that word…EPIC.

Our Fabricator Extraordinaire, Nick D sent me some thoughts on how to build this monster, here’s what he had to say:

Yeah, I already have some ideas how I want to lay it out.

One thing I need to do is have you take a picture of your old tandem from a side view. Then i need to measure all of the angles and lengths. After that we will want to sit on the old tandem and see where we want more room, angle changes, and any other modifications.

I.E. Front Bottom Bracket to Rear Bottom Bracket, Front seat post to rear seat post, head set angle,

At that point we will have some type of schematic to work from for our new one. That way I know which exact angles work and how far to separate everything. Then I will make a jig that has the exact length of our bottom brackets that we want which will lock both sections together. After that you just connect the points with tubes and call it a day.

So here is the order of operations:

1. Take pictures of old Tandem

2. Measure old Tandem

6. Cut old frames and prep for welding

7. Set all angles and lengths up

8. Weld all joints

9. Add accessory pieces of flair

12. Our main reason for building this tandem.Race and look cooler than everyone else.