Bicycle Built for 3, 2, and 1

A recent Rodriguez creation that's even more amazing than it looks at first glance.

To look at this bike in its 3 different configurations, you might think it's just our standard 'triple that converts to double, that converts to single', right? At Rodriguez, we build a lot of these type of bikes that other builders won't even think about attempting. This one has another level of difficulty to it that you can't easily see from the pictures.

10 Years in the Making
This bike started over 10 years ago, back in 2007, with a few email exchanges with the customer. Originally she was asking about a regular Rodriguez 8-ball tandem/single convertible. Since we're the original creator and biggest builder of such a beast, it's no wonder she contacted us, right? Well, eventually it turned into a travel touring bike (our Rodriguez UTB) for her husband, with the thought of doing a tandem later.

Over the next 10 years, we emailed back and forth occasionally about tandems, or a UTB for herself that she could use to travel with her husband and his bike. Well, this winter she finally came up with an idea. Her question to me was "can we make a travel tandem that fits my husband perfectly in front, that converts to a UTB single that fits me perfectly?" The challenge here is that they are not at all the same height, so the top tube would have to shrink 3.4cm (1 1/2") when the bicycle is a single bike as compared to a tandem. Now, she wasn't done. She also added "the bicycle would also need to have a triple section that could be easily installed or removed for our grandchild to ride with us." If we could accomodate all of these factors, then she would like to order this bike.

Impossible just takes longer
This is a philosophy that we try to live by. If she wanted this seemingly impossible design, who better to pull if off than the team here at Rodriguez Bicycle company? We drew up a design that worked, had a few meetings about how best to adress the many complex issues raised with such a design, and came up with a very workable and ingenious bike I think. As a single bike, she even uses different shifters and brake levers than her husband uses when the bike is a tandem/triple. As a single bike, it weighs in under 27 pounds (very respectable for a heavy duty travel touring bike).

There are many other really cool features to this bike, but I'll let you look at the photo gallery close-up shots of it and then you can ask me "what's that thing for?" as you inspect it close up. It would take way too much text to describe everything, but I'm sure you'll have a few questions ;-)

As a single bike with her fit (48.7cm top tube)

As a tandem bike with his fit (52.1cm top tube)

As a triple bike