Originally Posted by willhs

There are plenty of other "you should buy from the classifieds" threads, but I will try to briefly justify my purchase:

We got a year and a half of 100+ mile/week riding out of the stock configuration (with new brake pads thrown on), plus a week of RAGBRAI, all for $480 shipped with no tax. That's an amazing deal and a great price to try out tandem riding, and I think that's really a major selling point to the Giordano. And we found that the frame fits us extremely well, which is nice. The total cost of the upgrades will be in the neighborhood of $1,600 without skimping on anything and getting SRAM Red shifters and FD with an X9 RD. So, total actual cost for the tandem will be ~$2,100, but spread over a year and a half it isn't as hard to do.

The actual weights I've found on forums are more in the neighborhood of 37 lbs for the stock configuration of the Giordano. I think I can get it under 30 with the changes, which I think is reasonable. I will have it weighed at a bike shop after I am done. And, it will have the shifters, derailleurs, and handlebars that I use on my single bike and enjoy.

As to the durability of the frame, this tandem has been around under the Lamborghini name for >5 years, and there have been only positive posts with regards to durability of the frame. One couple rode across the country with it. I am not worried.

The classifieds generally have ~10 year old bikes, and cost at least $2k for anything close to what I would want. But, that's just it -- that same amount I am spending would only get me "close" on a significantly used bike.

I hope this doesn't come across as too defensive. I really do appreciate bouncing ideas off of you guys and getting great feedback.