Bought Jay's used FSA carbon triple crankset, which he can't cut down to 145 cm (165 was perfect for me).  Got free installation with it!  Tested it yesterday, and the new granny seems to be working OK, so I can now approach the hills with false confidence!  

I placed an order with Rans today...head set adjuster, seat mounting brackets to convert my old seat to the newer clamp, and a new seat clamp. This should get me bacteria to two good bikes (re my V2 project, someone pointed out it didn't take much of a bicycle mechanic to take two good bikes and one new frame and make one good bike out of it)

Bought it a week or so ago but just got around to taking some pics.  Used Adams Trail-A-Bike off Craigslist.  We now have a new problem - one trail-a-bike and two kids who want to ride it.....maybe I should have sprung for the double Trail-A-Bike  http://www.trail-a-bike.com/products/trail-a-bikes/folder-tandem/ .
 

 

It's ALIVE!!!
 

 
It involved way more   , a serious dent in my bottle of Knob Creek Rye, four different shops, mechanics bribes, (a six pack of beer, two dozen bagels and a gallon of coffee, a bottle of JD Green label)  and dollars leaving my pocket at a high rate of speed but it is done.  Lets just say about the only things that didn't offer major problems were pedals, the seat bag, and the water bottle cages..  Everything else was one problem after another.  Lot's of lessons learned on this one.
 
I'll let Vicky give you all the really gory details.
 
Semper Fi

Hmm...The laundry list of issues?
 
1. Self centering cranksets are NOT a design feature. (that took 6 spacers to fix)
2. SRAM X9 rear derailleurs really could stand a redesign. (that took 2, 1mm washers to fix)
3. Bikes really DO need headsets. (RANS said the frameset came with one on their website, but it doesn't)
4. Seat meshes are not just a comfort item, they're essential. (Those were accidentally left out of the frameset box)
6. Double check to make sure you (me) grabbed the right stoker seat off the shop floor. (oops! that was an easy fix actually)
5. Fixie chains and 9spd drivetrains do not mix.
6. Neither do 3 random chains the mech grabbed off the bike shop shelves. (1 was 10spd, 1 9spd, and 1 we have NO idea what it is for)
7. Brake cables need to be the right length.
8. If you're gonna run 203mm rotors, you really do want the 203 Bracket from Avid. (or enough spacers to make it work)
9. Shifter cable housing works better when it isn't mangled on one end.
10. Never assume your killer deal on a great wheelset is assembled with the right parts. (This was the single costliest fix (a new wheel overnighted, and new axle parts to fix the other wheel eventually)
11. Buy LOTS of spare tandem super-long (4445mm) cables.  Or just invest in the DaVinci splitters (on order).

AFAIK, it doesn't come with one, and Dave did not want one, though now he seems to be willing to accept one at least for use as a temporary work stand.

Quote from JimFPU on Sep 30^th, 2013, 4:57pm:

 
That had been the original game plan..  As with all best laid plans however..
 
And yes Paul, there is probably a double legged kickstand,   somewhere in my future...
 
Semper Fi