# Just bought my first tandem - it's a beauty!



## Starliner (Mar 7, 2002)

Just got home, sorry no pics yet but I'm pretty stoked. A 1991 Lippy Ecstasy in beautiful original condition. Just a beautiful, elegant machine - frame is white upper half fading to red lower half. White bar tape on both drop-style handlebars. Frame decals in near perfect condition. 40 spoke Mavics with 700 x 28 tires. Shimano 600 shifters, brakes, derailleurs (7 speed rear, triple Specialized crank) Shimano friction brake on rear hub. Stoker's seatpost acts like a shock absorber.

The frame is sized perfectly for me and my lady who I plan to surprise come X-Mas. Biggest problem is finding a place to hide the damn thing - it's looong!

Speaking of the frame, it appears expertly crafted with smooth weids linking together each tube into a well-propotioned unit. The top tube, in cross-section, is shaped like a football laying on its side with the endpoints in a 3 o'clock/9 o'clock orientation. Reminds me somewhat of Cannondale's SystemSix frame with its flattened ovalized top tube which they claim gives greater lateral stability. Whatever the reason, it is striking.

I rode it around a bit by myself this evening just to get a feel for it and see how a tandem handles. I can't wait to get that girl behind me and see how fast we can take it up.


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

Sounds sweet, Lippys were nice frames.

Need pix!!!


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## rodar y rodar (Jul 20, 2007)

Starliner said:


> The frame is sized perfectly for me and my lady who I plan to surprise come X-Mas.


Uh-oh  
Well, good luck and congratulations.


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## wooglin (Feb 22, 2002)

Yes! Worthless without pics!


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## Starliner (Mar 7, 2002)

*PIX at last; ride report*

We took it for our first ride together, it went well. Bike is solid and comfortable, handling is easy and sure for such a long stretch limo of a bike. It took about fifteen minutes to get used to each other's presence on the bike and become confident with it all. My lady trusted me and ended the ride looking forward to the next time together, so it doesn't look like the bike'll be the seeds to our downfall as a pair, quite the contrary.


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## wooglin (Feb 22, 2002)

That looks like some really nice fillet brazing. Sweet.


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## fbagatelleblack (Mar 31, 2005)

Very nice! And BIG! How large is the pilot side of the frame?

- FBB
(Pround owner of a 68cm Lippy single)


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## Starliner (Mar 7, 2002)

fbagatelleblack said:


> Very nice! And BIG! How large is the pilot side of the frame?
> 
> - FBB
> (Pround owner of a 68cm Lippy single)


Headtube is 9" and distance along the front seattube from center of BB to top of front seat is set at 32", as per the pictures. I'm just shy of 6'2" and she's around 5'6".

Another Lippy tandem from around the same time period recently showed up on an Oregon website:

http://bikeportland.org/2008/07/04/ccc-bike-of-the-month-a-mysterious-tandem/


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## Starliner (Mar 7, 2002)

*Second Ride....*

For our second ride we rode the American River MUT in the Sacramento metro area, starting at Gold River and riding east to Folsom. This ride was m'lady's first experience with cleated shoes - she was a bit unsure at first that she could master them, but it didn't take her long to be confident with them; mainly being sure how to click out of the pedals. She's got a granny bike, never having ridden a real road bike. But she is a good athlete and does have a good, natural spin when I've seen her ride.

The path rolls a bit and has some curvy turns, and we navigated our way the 9 miles to Folsom without difficulty or mishap. My girl was feeling pretty happy, enjoying the ride and the overall experience of riding together on the same bike. I could feel her efforts whenever extra effort was required.

After taking a break in Folsom, watching skaters circle around the outdoor ice rink and heading over to the chocolate shop, we began our return back to Gold River by crossing the automobile traffic bridge to the other side of the American River. Once across, we had to descend down to the river path via a zig-zagging connecting path that frankly I wasn't sure we could navigate with success. The descending path was maybe eight feet wide and had three 180º hairpin turns. :shocked: :shocked: What the hell, it's make or break time I thought, and began the drop down.

First thing was to set the rear drum brake to provide some drag, and give me more time to figure out how to negotiate the first turn right which came up pretty damn quickly. I aimed wide, leaned hard, kept pedalling, and prayed... and made it! Second turn left next - uh-oh, I'm entering it too shallow, watch out for the rear wheel bumping off the path .... mmm....made it! Third turn .... piece of cake. Another left and a sharp right and we're on the path to Gold River. Whoo-hoo!

As far as I was concerned, that was going to be the highlight of this ride - making it down that zig-zagged path without stopping or crashing. And the whole time my lady was on board, in synch, and fearless.

We started making good time on the way back, hitting 24-26mph at times. She was feeling real good, having a great ride, and doing her best to match my efforts with varied intensities. Hills that she would have in the past gotten off her bike and walk up, we crested without skipping a beat - she was having a load of fun seeing what we could do as a team. Nice to have that triple, I must say.

Especially for the last climb at the Lake Natomas dam. The path makes an abrupt sweeping right turn up, up, and up to the road on top, maybe in the 20% range of incline. Even on a single bike, it's no piece of cake. All day she was telling me she wasn't going to attempt the climb - but as we neared it, she was feeling good and relented. Off we went - I geared way down and attacked the climb, feeling her supportive efforts in the spin. As we neared the top, I could feel her efforts wane, so I simply stomped harder and lifted higher until we popped up to the sidewalk and its gentle downslope to the other side of the river. My girl shrieked with joy as she shared in the spoils of victory over that hill she'd never have thought she could ever do by herself.

Back on the other side of the river we dropped down to the path to continue our return to Gold River, stopping once to enjoy the river scenery. As we were getting back underway we were passed by two racer types on their road bikes spinning their way down in the same direction. They were cruising along in the mid to high teens, and we soon caught up to them, settling into a spot several bike lengths behind.

We had about a mile left to our destination, it was late in the afternoon, there was nobody but us on the trail.......and I just couldn't help myself. I jumped hard on the pedals and to my amazement they felt light - my girl must have read my mind for she was spinning hard too, and we blew past those guys, with shrieks of joy emanating from the seat behind me. The guys chased us, and soon my pedals got heavy. I gave it another 10 seconds of grinding spin and then let up. One of the guys passed by us and I jumped back on the pedals, closing out the other guy as we tucked in and onto the rear wheel of the lead guy. He pulled us all the way to our turn off on the path - as we veered off, the guys continued on, joyfully hailing us with bikers respect as they disappeared from our sight.

Checking the computer, I discovered we hit 29.5mph during our little tete a tete. My lady was high as a kite. I swear, she's quite a competitor - she had such a good time playing chase, she talked it up about getting in shape and racing.  

All told, it was a great 19 mile ride together on the Lippy.

POSTSCRIPT- Next day, her legs were sore. We took the Lippy back down to the American River trail but went west where the path was flatter and went for an easy 12 mile recovery spin. No craziness this time.


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## rodar y rodar (Jul 20, 2007)

Great- awesome report, too! We`re out of Reno and we`ve done the bottom part of the American River trail a few times on our singles but haven`t made it down there yet since we douled up. My wife doesn`t do well on the hills either, so I`m really hoping the tandem will open up the Folsom end of that trail to us. It looks promising so far. The low bars don`t bother your wife? I remember there was a Lippy for quite a while in the used section of that tandem and recumbent specialty shop down there (Gold Rush?). Was that yours?


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## Starliner (Mar 7, 2002)

rodar y rodar said:


> Great- awesome report, too! We`re out of Reno and we`ve done the bottom part of the American River trail a few times on our singles but haven`t made it down there yet since we douled up. My wife doesn`t do well on the hills either, so I`m really hoping the tandem will open up the Folsom end of that trail to us. It looks promising so far. The low bars don`t bother your wife? I remember there was a Lippy for quite a while in the used section of that tandem and recumbent specialty shop down there (Gold Rush?). Was that yours?


That trail is great. It's flatter near downtown Sacramento but isn't too terrible from the mid-teen mile mark up to Folsom. From Folsom the remaining few miles include a long easy-to-moderate uphill to the dam. 

I got the Lippy off of Craigslist from a couple living in Folsom. It might have been the same as the one in that shop, but I'm not sure.


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