Featured above is the stoker-controlled rear brake. This is awesome! With three 200+mm rotors there is no mountain we cannot safely descend, unlike the two horror show 155 Hope hydraulics we had on our first tandem. There were moments when I feared for our lives, gripping white-knuckled and praying they held. Those days are SO over. I await the completed bracket for mounting the left side front brake. Machinist Mike came by a couple of days ago and walked off with one of the brakes to make sure it fit, so I'm optimistic our evil plans will succeed.
Below--the stoker's brake control center:
I think I first saw this on Micro Craig's back-to-back tandem trike, still a unique beast in the velo world as far as I know. The lever is an in-line unit typically used on drop bars for touring riders to always have a brake handy. Mounted on top is an old Dura Ace bar end shifter which now acts as a parking brake--oh so super slick, let me tell you what. We pull to a stop--zzzip!--Jodi pulls back the lever and we is [sic] parked. Ready to go, Hon? Zoooop, back to neutral and away we go.
Not featured in this post is the fact that the stoker also will control the "front" chain rings while I'll control the cassette. She'll also have access to the computer--handy for navigation purposes. Moving the chain ring shifting to the stoker's seat means that breaking the trike in two will only require disassembling the cassette shifter line, which has a tandem screw link, and the timing chain and couplers, of course.
So the new GTT is coming together. Can't wait to set sail on her maiden voyage.
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