Originally Posted by stokell
...so I won't be always carrying her lipstick in the front?
It's not your color?!
No help here. I'm looking forward to ideas for SMALL handlebar bags in the stokers compartment -- being too lazy to research it myself. I currently toss my lipstick and inhaler in my jersey pocket. I figure I'm one unfortunate fall away from one heckuva kidney bruise!
Originally Posted by 29nov03
On the same topic though, any recommendations for an affordable suspension seat post for stoker? Unfortunately our tandem fund is not as healthy.
Where is best/cheapest to buy tandem related gear online?
Oooooo. That first one's a tough one. If your stoker feels that a suspension seatpost would improve his/her riding enjoyment (and some stokers don't really like suspension seatposts) I would go with the best you can manage. In fact, I'd say that some of the most important money spent on a tandem is ensuring the stoker's rear comfort, i.e. saddle and seatpost. As has been mentioned here many times before, because of the frame construction on a tandem, the stoker takes the brunt of the bumps -- large and small. Our entry level Co-motion came with a suspension seatpost (can't remember the brand) and a saleswoman at our LBS was pretty clear that an upgrade was really going to improve my comfort. She was so right. The difference between the two was noticeable. I ride a Rockshox and I love it, but we do mostly urban riding so there are tons of bumps.
As for the best/cheapest places to buy tandem gear online, we like both Performance Bike and Nashbar. You can see their advertisements in this post. There are other tandem-specific places and doubtless others will chime in with their favorites.