Landescape Tandem Specification

  Left - the Landescape in near pristine condition, and in the same specifaction as it was when we brought it home.

Right - The Landescape in it's natural habitat; waiting for the pub to open.

  After seeing the new Landescape at York Cycle Rally in 2005, and having a brief ride on one in the tryout area, we were convinced. Adjacent to Pete Bird's Landescape stand was the JD Cyles' team and a quick chat with John and Ruth saw us set up with an appointment for a proper test ride. A good test ride and we were hooked (read about the test ride here), it was just a matter of deciding on the exact specification and with some help from John and Ruth, here's what we came up with.

Frame

• Medium / Large Landecape in "Azores Red"
• Butted aluminium 7005 Tandem Series frame and forks
• Front
• 5 bottle cages mounts
• V brake mounts for 26" or 700C wheels, interchangable
• Front
• NVO adjustable height A Head stem
• Hope A Head bearings with 'Star Doctor'
• Handlebars - Santana 46cm
• Saddle - Dave already had a Brooks B17, since changed.
• Landescape seat pin
• Rear
• Rear Handlebars - Synergy upturned touring bars
• Synergry adjustable stoker stem with 50mm riser
• Saddle - M:Saddle L21, since changed.
• Landescape suspension seat post

Loaded and ready to roll, the Landescape with BoB Yak trailer heading out for a camping weekend. We don't do 'lightweight' very well...

Gears, drivetrain and brakes

• Avid Road BB7 cable pull disc brake callipers
• Shimano Ultegra STI 3 / 9 speed gear / brake levers
• Shimano Ultegra front mech
• 2 off Shimano Ultegra splined bottom brackets
• Shimano Ultegra crossover drive, 24 (Steel) / 36 (Alloy) / 48T (Alloy)
• Crank lengths - 175mm front, 170mm rear
• Cheapo peddles with straples clips at the rear
• Shimano XT rear mech
• Shimano H760 11T - 34T 9 speed XT cassette
• Drive chain PC990
• Timing chain PC950 x 2 off
• Shimano Deoro V brake on rear wheel, operated from front bar end, used as a parking brake

Wheels

 We couldn't decide whether to get 26" or 700C wheels. 26" is a popular size which is easily obtainable in emergency due to it's common use on mountain bikes, However 700C gives a slight bigger wheel which we can fit with narrow tyres to get a low resistance roadwheel. Slightly lower gearing due to the smaller size of a 26" wheel, albeit the higher gearing is useful when not going up stupidly steep hills.

 It was all too confusing, in the end, we decided to get both sizes and swap them depending on what we are using the bike for. As we decided on disc brakes, it cost us an extra set of disks as well as an extra wheel set, but the change between sizes take less than 15 minutes and we feel it's worth it.

  In response to a query on the Tandem Club discussion board, here's some close up pictures showing the disc / calliper / mudguard / rack combination and how it all fits together. Very nicely is the answer...

• Rims - Alex 26" triple box section 6061 Aluminium, 48 hole, CNC machined brake surfaces
• Spokes - Alpine DT III triple butted
• Hubs - Wide flange Synergy QR
• A single 203mm Avid disc is fitted to all 4 wheels
• Tyres
  • 26" x 1.5" Schwalbe Marathon, rated to 100psi (x bar), usually inflated to 80psi (F) / 90psi (R)
  • 700C x 28mm Continental Gatorskin, rated to 100psi (x bar), usually inflated to 85psi (F) / 95psi (R)

Accessories

• 4 x Blackburn bottle cages
• Sigma Topline Targa computer - dual wheel sizes
• Tubus front lowrider rack
• Tubus rear rack
• Arran rackpack, for tools, food and extra clothing
• SKS 53mm plastic full mudgaurds
• Altera Hydraulic lift for roofrack
• Ortlieb Back Roller Plus panniers

Changes since purchase

We've added a couple of other accessories since we bought the bike.

• Both Saddles changed to "Lookin M-Flex Dynamic Comfort saddles". Dave got the men's "Athletic", Karen got the Women's "Relaxed". They are better, although Karen remains to be fully convinced.
• Rear wheel QR skewers have both been replaced with Bob Yak skewers so that we can tow the trailer on either wheelset.
• The Hope 'Star Doctor' didn't work and the bearing came loose. It was replaced by a conventional star nut, the bearings have been fine ever since.
• Front Wellgo SPD / Flat pedals replaced by as set of Wellgo 'Titanium Black' double sided SPD pedals.
• Topeak TourGuide DX Quick release handlebar bar bag. It's works well for valuables and a small camera although it's a bit small. The removeable mapcase is useless and it's been removed, to be replaced by a Zefal case which straps to the bars.
• Minoura Space Grip SG1 - 120mm handlebar mounted riser bracket for lights
• Hope 31.8mm QR seat clamp for rear seat post, the Landescape one broke!

Our bike was built by JD Cycles, more information also available from http://www.landescapetandems.com/

Spares have come variously from SBR Sports (saddles), Chain Reaction Cycles and Wiggle.

A short history of our tandems	2005 trip to York Cycle Rally

Pictures and text are copyright © Dave & Karen Petty- All Rights Reserved, please don't copy anything without our permission. Thanks, D & K.