Paul Raley wrote:
Does anyone know what hubs would have been originally specified for a 1965 Jack Taylor Sports Tandem? When I bought mine as a basket case several years ago it came with a Campy 36h track front hub and an Atom 36h drum brake rear. I built it up this way but suspected that they were not original as the Atom hub was laced to a steel Schwinn 27" rim! In any case, I would like to switch to a conventional rear hub (the drum brake makes flat repair a chore) and would rather not spend the $$$ for a Campy rear track to match the front if it was not original! Any suggestions?
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I first worked on one of these about '69, a bit younger, but brand new. That one still had the old-style chain-stay-mounted rear derailleur (the kind with a door spring to under the BB for tension). So, they were no slaves to racer fads... I don't think you could do wrong with either Campy road HF, or, better, Airlite Continentals (good luck finding them).
Fashions change, and brakes have improved, but I personally have always cherished the redundancy of having a decent hub brake as well as a pair of rim brakes on the tandem. For 1965, that leaves few choices if you want to be original. One dead give-away of an un-original Atom hub would be if your freewheels feel very loose going on (French thread). Another would be humongous spoke holes -- and I'd expect 40 holes on a proper British tandem of the age. And Jack Taylor build proper tandems.
harvey sachs
mcLean va