Tandem away

Claud Butler tandem frame

I gave away a family heirloom today and have a few pangs of guilt. The family tandem was bought shortly after I was born and was my main mode of transport for the first four years of my life until my sister arrived on the scene. My father had been a keen cyclist and he bought a tandem so that he could rediscover in tandem with my mother the haunts that he had cycled round before spending the war years with the Eighth army in Africa, Greece and Italy.

It was a beautiful Claud Butler tandem made in the 1940's, painted a metallic blue with a three speed deraillier gear. At weekends I would be wedged into a baby seat over the rear wheel behind my mother and we would go to Lytham, St Anne's, Southport or towards Morecambe Bay. Apparently I would fall asleep after a few miles on the return journey and this would lead to an edgy discussion whether they should stop and let me sleep at the roadside but this may have been a ruse by my mother to have a rest sitting on a blanket until I woke up. Panniers were needed for the blanket, my bucket and spade and a picnic lunch along with capes, a toolkit and other paraphernalia. In the evenings we would use the tandem to visit my other set of grandparents or head up the Ribble valley.

After my sister arrived I was promoted to a child seat on the rear cross bar and my sister took her place in the baby seat. By this time we had moved from my grandparents house in the town to a new house on the outskirts. My mother rebelled against pedalling two children and a bike that must have weighed a hundred weight (cwt) including the child seats and the panniers. The bike got stored in the tool shed and then transferred to the attic from where I rescued it fifteen years later.

I didn't use it very much, it did not have the same pulling power as a car in the 1970's, so once again it was relegated to a cellar and then a garage. I had a notion that I might want to restore it once I retired but I have not had the inclination or the patience to tackle the sturdy but rusting steel steed. I was talking to one of the bike mechanics in the local bike recycling factory and mentioned the tandem. He said a friend would love to restore it. When I took it in there was an excited gabbling amongst the bike enthusiasts, they were all staggered at the weight of the frame, they obviously didn't know what a hundred weight was.  I hope the friend is able to restore and get some use from it. Far from feeling I had given away a heirloom I felt a sense of relief, I had now recycled four bikes in the last two years but still have a three left, less bikes means less hassle and more cycling.