sac02

I've been road cycling for about 5 years, and about a year ago I got my wife into the sport, though she's a little more recreational than me. She enjoys it, and I enjoy spending the time with her -we've done a couple charity rides, one was a century. Recently she said she might enjoy a tandem, and gave me the go-ahead to start shopping.

But I know squat about tandems. Like really, nothing other than that it's a bike for two riders.

Can you give me the run-down on basics that I need to know for my first tandem purchase?

Her idea of a budget was $1000. After looking around for not very long, I'm thinking that's going to be hard to do.

I've read a few threads in this forum, one thing I noticed (and was very curious about) was several people mentioned "old" tandem design, or "new" tandem design when talking about their bike. Has there been some recent change in tandem design/building that has had a significant impact?

Thanks!