 I bought my tandem in
March of 1994, after I rented several the previous season by way of extensive testing and
comparison shopping. I had been fascinated by tandems ever since about 1980, when I first
saw a tandem that had been specifically built as such, and obviously intended as a
high-performance, quality bicycle (as opposed to the Schwinn cruiser tandems you find at
the beach, etc.). Right then, I was intrigued, though far too impecunious as a college
student to do more than dream and plan on the day when I, too, could own a long bike.
W hen
I bought it, the bike was a blue-green teal color, and had several dents, dings, nicks,
and scratches, having served as the shop's floor model, demonstrator, and rental for a
season or two beforehand. In fact, this was one of the bikes that I rented during my
shopping phase. Although far from appearing shiny new, the bike still looked pretty good.
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| However, four seasons of pretty hard use and transport took their toll,
and by the end of the 1997 summer riding season Spike's (that's the bike's name) coat
would no longer sustain a shine, even after a thorough paste waxing. I am rather
inelastic, so it's difficult for me to swing my right leg over the handlebars (adding the
aerobars didn't help the situation any, either!). Rather than endanger the stoker by
mounting as you would a single, I took to slipping my foot over the top tube. For most of
the time I did that, I had magnesium cleats, and every time I failed to clear the bar
Spike's paint paid the price. This seemed to happen most often when mounting after rest
stops on centuries or long rides (of which I do a fair amount). |
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| On Bike Virginia's Fall Weekend in 1996, I chanced on a twofer with an
absolutely gorgeous custom paint job, a black and gray fade from top to bottom and front
to back. From that moment, I knew what had to be done. Thanks to some hefty overtime, I
accumulated the requisite war chest and began planning. I didn't want to just copycat that
paint, but the black and gray looked very nice together. I solicited the tandem mailing list I read
for opinions on the best place to have the painting done, and finally decided on Fresh Frame, in Ephrata, PA. My local tandem dealer affirmed that this was a good
choice, as he has done business with them in the past. After poring over the PPG samples
book, I selected the colors: Pearl in Black, fading to Metallic Charcoal Gray, with a Gold
Pearl overlay to warm the whole thing up. |
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| Although the black wasn't as black as I had anticipated (thanks probably
to the gold pearl overlay it's actually a deep deep deep olive green) I'm very pleased
with the overall appearance, and certainly thrilled with the high-quality execution. Fresh
Frame definitely did a fine job. You can't feel the decals at all (they're buried under
several layers of hand-sanded clearcoat), and it was immediately evident that they pay
scrupulous attention to the details. During the time that the bike was in the floor
display area at the dealer's before I came to collect it, it was a definite
crowd-gatherer. C 'est magnifique! |
