Rat tandem

For sale an old, heavy, rusty, loveable, electric green Gitane tandem. I bought this a few weeks ago to see how me and the lady would get along tandeming, and the smiles convinced us to upgrade to a Dawes fit for touring.

It was a piece of junk when we got it. A load of rust has been sanded off, especially on rims, mudguards hammered back into shape and rough polished, cables replaced, new brakes fitted, new levers, new timing chain, wheels trued (whatever was possible).

It is now rideable and would do fine to pot around for a laugh. It won’t take you to John O’Groats. There is still a considerable amount of rust, the handlebar shim is a can of Coke, the rear derailleur was not installed as the Shimano 600 that came with it is semi-broken (I ‘fixed’ it but fitting another one might be advisable). The fact I didn’t have a long enough chain hardly helped. The derailleur, inner and outer gear cables and original Weimann brakes will be provided. One just needs a longer chain.

I’ll be honest and say I bought this for £90. I’m selling for £130, I think it’s a fair price for what it is and goes some way in covering what I spent to get it riding again. Let me know if I’m off.

tl;dr
— Tandem
— Look at it
— £130

Sorry, forgot, dimensions:

Pickup from Mare Street or Kingsland Road. Can ride to a tube/overground station reasonably close to meet (Highbury, Canonbury, Old Street, Liverpool St, etc)

very, very tempted, but not sure my 5'1" girlfriend would fit on the back. Thoughts?

this is damn cool! pub tandem!

Possibly. The saddle can be lowered a bit , and the stoker stem too. There's a good 5cm to come down from what it is at the moment, and the his-and-hers layout can help with getting on and off too. I don't know if you ever rode tandem, I only started a month ago but from what I learned the stoker doesn't really have to put the feet down at stops, as long as the captain gets the hang of controlling the bike.

If you want to measure her bike and let me know distance from saddle to pedals and tip of saddle to bar, I can tell if if this can be replicated on the tandem.

Great stuff, thanks mate. I'll take a measuring tape to her ridiculous 1980s Raleigh Denim and see what the sizing looks like.

We actually live just down the road in Bethnal Green so worst comes to worst might be able to swing by and see if she can get on it.

Whoa!

that's the one!

As obviously badass as it is I do find it slightly frustrating having to go at her pace - the standard gearing spins out at about 8mph. Hence the tandem.

I always wondered what the mount on the front was for. Clearly needed to support the 4kg of D batteries that floodlight must use.

If you are looking to do the tandem up, if you pop down to woolwich and perry cycles there is a lovely guy in there that will help you get the bike sorted, he loves getting old tandems back on the road and in use.

That's good to know, is it the one called Harry Perry?

this is very cool...glws

If this was in manchester I would buy it in a heartbeat, best price ever for a working tandem!

I'm glad you agree. It can be a bit annoying to source tandem-specific parts, when I bough this the thinking was that even though it was crap, everything was there.

Sold and donated.