Reading the recent messages about the ‘techie’ intricacies of tandems led me to reflect.  My wife and I started riding tandem 40 years ago (and have just quit because of the awful state of our local roads). Mercian built us a superb bespoke frame in 1984 and I put the bits together. Our first good ride was from Paris Orly to Nice in 12 days; we passed through Burgundy and fell in love with that region. We have had so many wonderful rides in the UK, Italy and France. Of course, a tandem is a  great ‘icebreaker’ and we met many interesting people on our travels. We even rented a tandem for a day in San Francisco and rode over Golden Gate Bridge down to Sausalito and beyond.  

Re ‘tandem tech’: we were early adopters of hydraulic brakes but a split tube in the Pyrenees had us  revert to cable brakes. Yes, we used triple chainrings, but most of our riding was done on just 3-4 familiar gears: one to go up most hills; a couple for normal rolling roads; one (rarely used) for smooth, flat roads with a following wind! The best investment was 48-spoke wheels. 32 mm tyres made the bike easier to disassemble and stow in an estate car. Our aim was always to forget about the mechanicals and just get on with the special joy of riding together. Bon courage!

PS if you are ever in Normandy, La Musée du Vélo in La Fresnaye-sur-Chédouet 72600 is a gem. M Ivan Bonduelle set it up; he has retired and it’s now run by the local authority.