My wife & I have a KHS ’sausage Dog’ electric tandem that we no longer use or require.

If you are interested in this (for a small sum, say £200) then please get in touch.  I can sent some photos later if it helps.

We live in Torbay.

All the best,

Mike & Kim.

We recently bought a used electric Ecosmo; I was finding it increasingly difficult to mount our crossbar electrified Viking. The Viking is a pretty basic tandem, the Ecosmo even more so. We are doing shorter trips as we get older (and my wife doing more gardening); the Ecosmo is fine for up to 10 miles, I think it would be good for 20, but not much more.

My wife prefers the Ecosmo to the Viking in many ways, she can see over my shoulder and has a much better view. When we tried a Circe Helios she found the opposite and felt very cramped at the back. It might depend on detailed handlebar setup etc. More rolling resistance than the Viking from the small fatter tyres. I rather like the feel, and the electric makes the resistance less important.

The Ecosmo is very low geared; about 50" top gear (14-28 7 speed freewheel). I'm about to mount an 11-32; we'll see how that works with the fairly basic derailleur.

I think you'd find Mike & Kim's offer a real bargain. It wouldn't have suited us (crossbar too high), but I'm sure it's in a league above the Ecosmo.

Hi Bob,

Sorry, only just seen your messages.

Why not email me direct on mike56inness@gmail.com?  I think this is okay with the club, but I have never had need to do this before.

I look forward to hearing from you.

All the best,

Mike.

Hi Bob,

We've had an Ecosmo for 8 years now and use it for a 3-4,000km tour each summer to autumn. We replaced the wheels, tyres, the entire transmission, the carrier and added a 3^rd brake – a rear disc brake (ours came with V brakes) so that it was upto the job - possibly more than your spec needs.

Even so we would not recommend an Ecosmo ‘as is new’ for rides of 20 miles. It’s really designed for 4-5 mile trips at jogging pace. It is a very sturdy steel frame, though.

Our modifications all cost about £600, but it does mean that given the cost of the Ecosmo new was £350, we were properly set up for < £1,000. It is very manoeuvrable, does fold small quickly and is no problem on airplanes and trains or hatch-back rental cars – even fairly small ones (eg Toyota Corolla).

If your purchase of Mike and Kim’s sausage dog doesn’t work out, come back on and I can give more details if you need.

Rob

Hi Stephen Todd

We have an electric Ecosmo tandem which we enjoy with our campervan - I wouldn't like to try Land's End to John O'Groats on it!! I wouldn't be interested in knowing about the 11-32 freewheel you're fitting to yours ie. Make and how easy it is to fit etc. Higher gearing would definitely help.

Thanks

Stephen Williamson 

The freewheel arrived a few days ago but I've been too busy/lazy to fit it. I'd hoped to do so this afternoon, but we have tea guests instead. I'll certainly post how the fitting and and riding go when it is done.

I also fitted a longer seatpost and a spring saddle (partly for the extra height); the original didn't give me nearly enough saddle height (I'm 5'10").

And replaced the rear seatpost with the Suntour NCX suspension post we had on the old tandem. My wife would kill me if I took that away.

The only other change I am considering is hydraulic disk brakes on the front. The current cable disks are a pain to adjust and I haven't managed to get rid of the squark yet on the front one.

Especially for Stephen Williamson, but may be of interest to others.

Ecosmo tandem 11-32 freewheel.
Fittted fairly easily and looking promising.

ride
~~~
Great to have the higher gears. 14 teeth top (50") was certainly too low.

I think we will mainly ride in 6th (of 7), (13 teeth, 54"), but will often find a use for top (11 teeth, 64"). Many people would want higher gears still, but I don't think the Ecosmo would be for them anyway.

Gear change is as smooth as it was with the Shimano 14-48.

fitting
~~~
I am a bit out of practice and not as strong as I was.
Also a couple of new (to me) details to sort.
Still managed without too many problems.

The motor cable was neatly cable-tied down.
This meant clipping the ties to be able to disconnect and reconnect the motor cable.
This would be needed for any back wheel removal, eg for puncture.
Easy enough, as long as you have a tool to hand to snip.

I've never dealt with disk breaks before.
No real problem, it just meant extra care and time removing and reinserting the wheel.

I'd hoped that with just 200 miles or so ridden, and the reduced stress because of the rear hub motor, the old freewheel would come off easily. No such luck, eventually long adjustable wrench and a hammer did the job.

The axle (like many) has flat sides so can only be be mounted one of two ways.
With the way the electric motor cable leaves the axle only one of these is correct.
I only noticed that when I went to replace the cable exit protector; I'd mounted it upside-down. Only a minute or so to correct that one.

I was expecting adjustment fiddles, but the indexing was right immediately, and the chain didn't need any change either. It actually goes from 6th to 7th a little smoother than before. (It had sometimes been a little hesitant, but not bad enough I'd bothered to fix it.)

technical
~~~
The freewheel was a Drift Maniac, with is a brand name for DNP.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09QXBWKLT

From reviews and other reading, the 11 tooth high fitted onto a standard freewheel means a compromise on the freewheel bearings.

It is unlikey to last long if used heavily in the top gear.
We don't expect to use it heavily, and have the motor doing work that doesn't have to go toward freewheel wear (***). So, I hope it will last us a few years.

(***) Unlike with a crank motor, where freewheel or more usually cassette is heavily stressed.

Hi Stephen,

Thank you for putting in so much detail. Yesterday I started learning about the meaning of 14-28 and 11-32, and the meaning of freewheel and cassette - and we were looking at the 11-32s in two local shops. I just ride a bike! Now I'm understanding why I get fed up with the gears. Thank you.

The best bit of news was that my husband read some of the above conversation, and with touching the 11-32 freewheel parts thought he might be able to attempt the change. So this morning I was going to ask where you had bought your 11-32 freewheel item - but you have given this information already, thank you. We are probably going to upgrade our lovely Ecosmo. I love it as it is very me friendly. I can get on and off, having limited movement, and we can fold it up neatly for travelling on trains, and then quickly unfold it to set off again, without touching chains etc. I know it's not fast, but I can get out to places I wouldn't be able to go without cycling.

Yes, easier mounting is the main reason we moved from standard Viking to Ecosmo.
A few things to double-check. (Sorry if its confusing or seems condescending, but these horrible details are important.

Check if your Ecosmo has freewheel or cassette.

Ours has freewheel, but if you are lucky the non-electric ones have cassette. I hadn't thought before that yours might not have freewheel. On electric, the freewheel or cassette choice is determined by the motor. On non-electric they would have had a much wider choice of hub. If you are lucky, yours is cassette, they are much easier to deal with.

If you are sure your bike is freewheel, are you also sure that the 11-32 you saw in local shops were freewheels? 11-32 cassettes are very common, but 11-32 freewheels are much rarer(partly because of their limitations). I wouldn't expect to find them in local shops.

If you haven't done it before, removing a freewheel can be a bit daunting. You need the correct removal tool (there are many different kinds) and a hefty (probably adjustable) spanner. I have both, and still nearly gave up yesterday. Your husband might consider doing most of the work, but taking the wheel to the shop to have the cassette removed. That leaves him with removing and reinserting the wheel. Putting the new freewheel on is really easy; make sure youm grease it well to simplify any future removal.

Good luck.

~~~
p.s. One bit I left out in my last post; for completeness, probably not relevant to you. For non-electric tandem the extra low gear of 28 tooth to 32 (22" on our Ecosmo) (or even 34) tooth can be very important for hill climbing. With electric it is less clear.  By the time you use the low gear you are down to 4 to 6 mph. At that speed the hub motor has become very inefficient; it won't be giving much power at the time you need it most and may overheat. You may well have to give up and push, or make the stoker walk while the pilot alone with motor help can get up at higher speed.

Thank you

i only found out about cassettes and freewheels whilst standing in the shop looking at them! Sometimes being ignorant is useful, but then you (I) learn that I know nothing!

we both walk up hills, One day I might suggest my husband peddles up as I walk. 
We will take all your advice, and probably just take the back wheel to the shop. That sounds a lot less stressful, and more relationship friendly! We have almost made it to our 40th wedding anniversary so we don't want any odd spanners thrown in to upset things!

thank you again for being so thorough in your reporting of your updates. Margaret 

Enjoy your anniversary. Our 50th coming up next year.

The solo pedalling makes most sense if you have a motor. Where the motor can't quite help enough two people it can still help solo. You might treat yourself to a motor as an anniversary present to each other! Woosh conversion would do the trick.

I will keep Woosh in mind. Maybe 41st anniversary present!

And we will enjoy our anniversary. We have over 80 people coming to a BBQ next weekend. Lots of Ruby coloured bunting and table cloths! And a school field for the day! Enjoy your 50th next year.