Hi mate
My knees can take it for so long only but it's my legs in general that find it hard dragging 25 to 30 kilo round. Which is why we don't go as far now on the Dummy and he is on the tandem for touring as he now has to help
The tyres, well that is a good question, as I have been looking at changing tyres on the Long Haul trucker as well. That is what I was actually in the process of doing when I got distracted by the Dummy and lets just say that I cannot change both bikes tyres in one or two pay checks. The ET's for the Dummy, the larger 2.5 were £60 each, which were only purchased for the Dummy as I got a really good price from the lads at Bikemonger as elsewhere they come in around £79. Pretty expensive but I figured that the Dummy is getting completely revamped with the wheels, dynohub and everything else, which has been waiting in the loft for a couple of years so may as well make it exactly how I want and these tyres really will give me the best of both worlds. I should also more than make it back if I sell the Fat front end as there are the wheels, fork, Old Man Mountain rack as it wont fit the standard fork. So not too worried.
Now for the Trucker I was looking at getting the Rene Herse 26 x 2.3 Rat Trap Pass which come in at a staggering £74 each which is a very discounted price from a certain friendly shop. These may have to wait now but I don't think I will ever be able to get them this cheap with the new costs of importing. Normal rrp for these is usually up around £90 to £100 so may just have to stick with my tried and tested Marathons. These get amazing write ups in how they really make a huge difference to the comfort and handling but are a bit over the top price wise. Just the usual low volume, high quality stuff from Jan Heine that makes them so expensive.
I have pretty much dried up the bike pot already with 2 tyres and we aren't even out of January.
To be fair and balanced I don't usually spend much on the way of upkeep on any of the bikes I run so it's just the unusual hit of two expensive tyres at once that smarts.
Jamie
My knees can take it for so long only but it's my legs in general that find it hard dragging 25 to 30 kilo round. Which is why we don't go as far now on the Dummy and he is on the tandem for touring as he now has to help

The tyres, well that is a good question, as I have been looking at changing tyres on the Long Haul trucker as well. That is what I was actually in the process of doing when I got distracted by the Dummy and lets just say that I cannot change both bikes tyres in one or two pay checks. The ET's for the Dummy, the larger 2.5 were £60 each, which were only purchased for the Dummy as I got a really good price from the lads at Bikemonger as elsewhere they come in around £79. Pretty expensive but I figured that the Dummy is getting completely revamped with the wheels, dynohub and everything else, which has been waiting in the loft for a couple of years so may as well make it exactly how I want and these tyres really will give me the best of both worlds. I should also more than make it back if I sell the Fat front end as there are the wheels, fork, Old Man Mountain rack as it wont fit the standard fork. So not too worried.
Now for the Trucker I was looking at getting the Rene Herse 26 x 2.3 Rat Trap Pass which come in at a staggering £74 each which is a very discounted price from a certain friendly shop. These may have to wait now but I don't think I will ever be able to get them this cheap with the new costs of importing. Normal rrp for these is usually up around £90 to £100 so may just have to stick with my tried and tested Marathons. These get amazing write ups in how they really make a huge difference to the comfort and handling but are a bit over the top price wise. Just the usual low volume, high quality stuff from Jan Heine that makes them so expensive.
I have pretty much dried up the bike pot already with 2 tyres and we aren't even out of January.

To be fair and balanced I don't usually spend much on the way of upkeep on any of the bikes I run so it's just the unusual hit of two expensive tyres at once that smarts.
Jamie