My wife and I are interested in getting into tandem riding. Neither of us has any serious experience biking (she being visually impaired but has loved going on tandems in the past). I have seen that Burley no longer manufactures tandems, and am not sure if the Softride thing is still made either.
Assuming we rent a tandem for half a day and love it, we may be interested in purchasing a tandem. I saw the following on Craigs List which is local. Over the course of the last month, it is about the only name-branded tandem I have seen. While it is a lot, I am thinking it may be good value for the money.
Any thoughts and/or pitfalls to avoid? We are 5'8" and 5'4". If we go renting a tandem for half a day, that is not exactly a lot of experience to know what will/will not work, especially if it is a Trek cruiser tandem.
Tandem description I looked at (with pictures) -
http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/bik/395145951.html
2003 Burley Duet Softride road tandem, size small, purchased new in 9/2004, only ridden a few times. Like new condition. Beautiful red powder coat finish with black fork. Custom-designed Chromoly tubeset, Truvativ Elita crankset, Shimano 105 front derailleur, Shimano XT rear derailleur, Shimano 105 STI shifters and brake levers, Tektro Mini-V brakes, 27-speed with Shimano HG50 11-32 9-speed gear cluster. Black Velocity Fusion rims, Panaracer 700x28 tires. Loaded – will include Shimano Flight Deck computer with virtual cadence, custom Softride seat bag, rear rack and new rack trunk bag, 2 water bottle cages, clipless pedals. Your stoker will love the Softride feel! Local pickup preferred, NW suburb of Chicago. Tandem alone was $2495 new (not including tax), will sell with all accessories for $1800 firm.