Dawes Duet 2009 Tandem Bike

Looking for a kiddyback tandem I happened upon the Dawes Duet. It was suggested that the 13in rear seat-tube would be suitable for children aged 7 years upwards. It is, but not without a lot of fenagling learned from 3 years as a bike mechanic. However this is still a good value, well-made tandem, just make sure you are getting what you need.

Duet comes in two sizes, 13in back, 16in front and 13in back 20in front. I opted for the 13/16 so my wife could pilot it. Her normal set up is 65cm from crank centre to saddle top (sorry about the mixed units). In fact the thickness of the saddle and the massive seatpost made it impossible to lower the front saddle enough without cutting about 15cm from the bottom of the seatpost and fitting a thinner saddle (an old Turbomatic in this case). The rear handlebar bracket makes this about as low as you can get.

I had more problems getting the back seat low enough for a big 7 year-old. The seapost needs reducing again, but the back of the saddle fouls the rack unless the rack is replaced with one designed for 700c wheels set further back on the dropout braze-ons rather than on the seat stay ones as supplied. The existing rack stays can be bolted onto the new rack stays or you can bolt together a spare set from your friendly local bike shop.

So far so good. Now the refinements: Straight bars are normally absurdly wide, certainly for women and children. Out with the pipecutter and take 8cm off the rear bars leaving enough room for bar-ends to give two positions for the stoker. Whether anything needs doing to the front bars is up to the pilot.

There's room for a lot more refinement according to taste. Pleasingly the frame has fittings for disc brakes though new wheels will be needed, these make a lot of sense for tandems. The bike is light, the brakes and gears work well and both users were so delighted they went straight off on a 10-mile jaunt to the cafe and came back with huge smiles!