S&S Couplers - any tips or traps

[Mike Ayling]

We are going away for a weekend and we will uncouple the couplers for the first time to put the tandem on the back of the car.

I am not considering removal of pedals, wheels etc.

Any particular advice or do I just unhook the EX box, split the rear brake cable and undo the couplers?

Mike

[julk]

Mike,
Nothing special needed in my opinion.
If you are driving through a lot of spray then covering the tube ends with a plastic bag might be prudent.

Don't forget the special spanner
Julian.

[JimK]

If you have a rear light wired to a dynamo on the front, that is one more connection to break.

[sg37409]

Gear cables should have couplers on them same as the brake. No need to touch the ex-box.
Easy to get it inside the car once its uncoupled.

I still find coupling it again a bit of a faff. I use the tandem with my kid, trying to get them to hold one side while you hold the other in place and start to screw the couplers can be tricky.

I heard a neat trick to turn the back of the tandem upside down to rest on saddle, then you only have the front to hold steady.
(but make sure the front goes on upside down too, else its tricky to ride :-)

[JimK]

I'm pretty sure that with an EX box there is no other way to disconnect the gear cables. The EX box comes off and goes back on with total ease so that is an advantage really.

Yeah, I find it cumbersome to get my Nomad couplers properly lined up and fastened. I've only done it a few times so I figure maybe more practice will facilitate.

[Mike Ayling]

Thanks to all. We leave on Thursday and i will report back after the weekend as to how the reconnections went.

Mike

[il padrone]

Gear cables should have couplers on them same as the brake. No need to touch the ex-box.

I thought the idea of an EX box was that it does away with the need for cable couplings? With S&S Couplers to separate the frame you just disconnect the EX box (very quick) and then unhook the cable housings from the guides under the chainstay - should be just as easy as disconnecting cable couplers. Then loop the cable housings out of the way with the front section of the bike. This would be one the same for a tandem as for a single bike.

Cable guide to allow removal of cable housings

[Mike Ayling]

OK, home again.

The break down was easy, disconnect rear brake cable, unscrew X box, roll back cables from the J hooks and place rolled up cables in a plastic bag and tie to front section using garden ties ( same stuff as you use for freezer bags but is green and comes in a roll.) and unscrew couplers.

Re assembly was a little fiddly lining up the serrated edges of the tubes as another poster said but we found that if we left the back half firmly secured on our two bar bike "beak" it was not too bad with two adults holding the front bit. We removed the front wheel for the process thus leaving quite a light piece of bike to move around.

We did the re join twice, once when we arrived then we broke the bike down again for a drive to the next day's ride which was some distance from where we were staying.

We have not re assembled after getting home yet because we did a cylinder head gasket on our car and got a mate to bring the bike home for us and we have yet to reclaim it.

Mike