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@6pt
Many moons ago I acquired a tandem. It had unfortunately spent the majority of its later life living outside, unloved and exposed to the elements. It looked like this:
It was bought to do Dunwich on with a schoolfriend, which never quite happened. I cleaned it and it lived in the living room with a coffee table through the middle of it for a while, coming out for the occasional novelty pub trip or blip in to town, but apart from some light modernisation (v brakes instead of tired cantis (and accompanying levers), new tyres) it never got the love or use it deserved.
Eventually my social situation changed and I ended up with a girlfriend who persistently insisted I go cycle touring with her. All of my bikes were ill-suited to this task. All except one. The tandem had its long overdue comeuppance.
Jimbilly at Brixton kindly sorted me out with most of what I needed (modern wheels (Shimano Deore/Mavic A319), racks, 9 speed derailleur etc) and I raided the parts bin for saddles and other bits and bobs and (after a long-overdue shake-down Dunwich run) we took the tandem on a 1,000 mile jaunt to Spain. Unbelievably, nothing went wrong.
At this point, the thing looked like this:
It is frankly crazy how much of a difference white bar tape/saddles and a load of matching ortliebs can do to elevate the appearance of a bike, but underneath it all it was the same old ratty thing.