We're getting our last run of tandem frames next month - never again, and we're serious this time. As we see it, there's a gap to be filled in the tandem market; the nicely made ones are generally for competitive or otherwise "serious" riding, and the more casual ones are either ugly, shoddily made or both.
We made the HubbuHubbuH to fill that gap. It's a thoughtfully designed, strong, safe, and beautiful tandem for, essentially, goofing around with your friends and whichever family members are willing to pilot it with you. Put some big tires, upright bars, and comfy saddles on it and go out with no thoughts given to miles logged or fitness achieved and you'll absolutely have a good time. The HubbuH is strong enough for trails, touring and camping, but I think their best use is the casual ride on bike paths, through the park, to the beach, or to go get lunch somewhere. Make it as easy as possible to hop on and go, and you'll find that you use it often. Put a big basket on it and run errands as a couple.
If you find yourself riding it solo (maybe you dropped someone off), try once every six months to get a stranger to ride it with you. I did just that years ago and it was always super fun. People will talk to you about the bike so it's not an out-of-the-blue proposition. It could be that person's only opportunity to ride a tandem in their life, and they'll always remember it.
Bonus: Drivers will absolutely give you more room when you're on a tandem. They falsely assume that they're hard to control and give you a wide berth, and you might even get a friendly wave. HubbuHubbuH riders will notice there's a good vibe radius of about 20 feet; within that distance, be ready for smiles, waves, and friendly comments.
This is the new color. It's close to the RBW blue we've had on other frames.
The decals have lil' smiley faces on them.
The tubes are ovalized where there's more stress on the frame and the full diaga-tube keeps it from feeling noodley. Flexy tandems are no bueno.
Sizing:
We're getting only smalls and mediums this time, but the mediums are pretty big. The small fits captains with PBHs up to 91cm, and the medium fits up to 97cm. The captain's saddle height shown below is 86cm. The forks come super long as you can see, but you can cut them down to fit. Leave more steerer than you think you'll need, just in case. Get the captain fit right and the stoker will fall into place. The taller rider should always go in front, since that determines how high the stoker bars can be. The minimum saddle height for the small is 55cm, and 59cm for the medium, so even the medium will fit short legged stokers. If both riders have similar leg lengths, make sure to get bars with a lot of rise for the stoker. That's probably a good idea all the time actually, since you can always slide the stoker stem down the captain's seatpost.
I used the ride the large demo when we had it, but since it's tough for the captain to swing a leg over the back to get off, I think it's better to go smaller and keep a bigger stack of spacers on the steerer. You'll learn to like the look, and that way you can step over the top tube to get off.
If you're not sure what size to get, give us a call and we can figure it out. A lot of people will be able to go either way.
Builds:
We can build these up if you're local, but we don't have a way to ship built tandems, so if you're not in the area, have your local bike shop assemble it. We'll have tandem specific parts when the time comes, including wheels, seatposts, the stoker stem you see in the pic, and Silver cranks. The frames include a fancy Bushnell eccentric and a Tange headset.
What's up with the disc mount?
You can put a disc drag brake on the rear - it's not necessary, I think, for people using the HHH casually, but if you do plan on doing a lot of descending, it's a useful feature.
Other relevant info:
- All sizes take 650b wheels
- Use v-brakes
- 145mm rear spacing
- 29.8mm seatpost diameters
- 31.8mm FD clamp
We'll probably get the frames late February, and we'll ship them out as soon as possible, since there's no room for them anyway. More info later, this is just the initial heads up!
-will