The story behind ‘Tando Norris’ from the man who built Greg James’ Comic Relief tandem

Greg James ‘ remarkable 1,100km bike ride to raise more than £4.5 million for Comic Relief dominated the news last week, and rightly so. But less attention has been paid to the tandem he rode, nicknamed ‘Tando Norris’ after the Formula 1 driver.

We’ve put that right by speaking to Tim Leicester, the frame builder at Mercian Cycles who custom made the bike for the long-limbed Radio 1 DJ.

Founded in 1946, the Derby company was bought out of liquidation last year. It has made quite the comeback by supporting James on his extraordinary fundraiser.

As Leicester explains, James’ ‘Longest Ride’ posed difficulties in terms of the tandem’s sizing, handling, strength and weight. Its decades of frame-making experience left Mercian well placed to resolve them.

A Derby duo

The partnership with Mercian Cycles came about through a connection with Huub, another Derby brand who supported Greg James’ Comic Relief triathlon challenge in 2016 and this one.

Huub founder Dean Jackson contacted Mercian, the 80-year-old steel frame builder, who then set about making a custom tandem for James.

Bespoke geometry

To make the frame fit James, in early January this year Mercian brought an existing tandem for him to test ride in London. They did a bike fit and based the captain’s cockpit on this.

Leicester said: “It’s quite big and long at the front because he’s 6ft4in, but the slight challenge we had was that he’d have a number of people at the back. 

“We had to make the back able to accommodate quite a range of sizes which isn’t normally what we’d do – we’d usually build for two specific riders.”

As a solution, Mercian hedged its bets with the rear geometry. “It was long and low whereas normally it would be low and short for a smaller rider. Or it would be high and long for a tall rider,” added Leicester.

“We used an adjustable stem to move the handlebar into different positions and a fairly long seatpost to get the saddle height right.”

Touring strength 

Although James rode largely solo, Mercian still had to design the frame with two riders’ weight in mind.

“It would have been nicer to potentially make it a little bit lighter,” said Leicester. “But some of the names being bandied round [as guests] mean we had to go for full touring strength.”

Birmingham-based manufacturer Reynolds Technology donated its high-performance 853 steel tubing. With a high stiffness-to-weight ratio, 853 is favoured on road bike frames. These qualities helped to support a two-person load on the tandem while minimising weight.

“We used wider diameter tubes than we’d use on a solo bike to make the whole frame stiffer,” he said. “The chainstays are tandem-specific because you have twice as much power going through them, so they are beefed up.”

Mercian sprayed the frame itself in a red colour selected by Comic Relief. 

Handling challenges

Riding a tandem solo would also have posed steering challenges for James.

“We went for standard touring geometry, so it’s pretty stable. Even when he was tired, it wouldn’t take too much riding,” added Leicester.

“But it’s long and isn’t going to behave the way a solo bike does. He had to fight against that and learn to ride a tandem on his own.”

Given Tando Norris’ lack of agility, James was lucky that his escort meant he had a clear road in front of him.

“But getting around potholes and corners requires relearning how to ride your bike because of its extra length,” said the frame builder. 

Tando Norris build

James underwent a pressure mapping to identify the ideal saddle, a Brooks Cambium, and rode a wide Pro flat handlebar for easier handling.

As regards gearing, he used a Sugino tandem triple chainset (48/38/28-tooth) paired with a Shimano Deore 11-42t, 10-speed mountain bike cassette.

That gave him a 28-42 lowest gear to get him and sometimes a passenger up steep climbs. His hardest gear was a pretty punchy 48-11. The shifters, derailleurs and massive 203mm disc brake rotors were also Deore.

James rolled on sturdy Ryde Sputnik touring rims laced with super-strong 2.3mm Sapim spokes to 36-hole Hope Pro 5 hubs, known for their durability. The similarly hardy tyres were 700x38c Panaracer Tour Guard Plus. 

“It was a pretty beefy wheelset,” said Leicester. 

All in, Tando Norris weighed a hefty 20.2kg. “Of which quite a big chunk is the tyres,” he added.

What’s next for Tando Norris and Mercian?

Tando Norris has arrived back home at Mercian HQ. Before being auctioned off for Comic Relief, Mercian will give it a service so it’s ready for its next voyage. 

What’s next for the storied frame builder as it celebrates its 80th anniversary?

First of all, Leicester said: “We were really happy to be involved, really happy that it was a success, really happy that they’ve managed to raise so much money for such a good cause.”

He is also full of praise for James. “He’s not a cyclist and some cyclists might say it was only 1,000km. But when he stopped here [at Mercian], he was stopped for an hour and for 40 minutes of that he was talking to people, doing interviews on the radio … it wasn’t just riding a bike. It’s more of a challenge than jumping on your solo bike and smashing out 1,000km.”

Could James’ feat inspire more people to take up tandem cycling?

“I’m not sure how many more tandems we’ll sell from it,” joked Leicester. “That is probably a niche. But again, some people might not have considered a tandem because they didn’t know they could get one custom made. Hopefully it will bring some more people through the doors for us.”