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@JacqueLucque
We went for a wee burn on tandem #2 in the pissing wet rain today. Excellent fun with a nice mid-ride cafe stop to dry off.
This Dawes was bought locally-ish for £200 (£200!) as, for now, our main Orbit lives at my parent's house in Scotland. From there, it is taken out for two long tours per year.
As you can see, I've had to compensate for the comically small head tube with an offensive riser stem and Albatross ripoff Humpert bars. While aesthetically unforgivable, this setup is divinely comfortable. It's also marginally higher than the Nitto MT11 + Albatross combo on our Orbit, which improves my line of sight in traffic.
This bike is my first with Magura rim brakes. Finding hose for these was a total nightmare, but they were very easy to bleed. They are tremendously powerful in the dry but don't feel as strong as our XT brakes on the tandem. I might be talking total shite, but I suspect this is because the brake compound is harder than the usual Clarks pads I use on the Orbit and the pads are smaller.
Even with the wide tyres, the 26in wheels are less forgiving than 700c IMO, particularly on bouncy roads. The alloy frame tracks more accurately but it's less forgiving on off-camber or rough terrain than the steel Orbit.
Overall though, for £200 (+ £50 in parts?), it's a banger.
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