Abram

Yes, the Davinci designs gives very wide range gearing, but you probably already knew that. It occurred to me this weekend that you could shift the gear-inches range up or down even further on the Davinci by changing the size of the chainrings on the timing chains.

If you search this forum you will find several threads with various opinions on that... At the risk of diverting this thread from its original topic, I'll offer my two cents: yes, I would recommend it. To me the ICS is a luxury, well worth the small penalty in extra weight (<0.5%) and complexity. We could certainly ride without it, and you wouldn't choose to add it to a racing bike. But for the actual riding we do every day, it's a convenience I wouldn't want to give up.

Umm, test ride? Be sure to read up on "the Proper Method" first: http://www.gtgtandems.com/tech/propmethod.html

Here's an article about compatibility... http://www.thetandemlink.com/article...dontclick.html

Our first ride was on a tandem being sold on Craig's list. We were a little wobbly the first mile, but besides that, it clicked from the first ride. Later, we were vacationing in the Denver area and got to borrow a test ride from the Davinci shop for a weekend. The advantages over riding separate bikes were apparent from the first rides -- much easier to talk, no one is ever left behind, and it's fast & fun. But I can imagine that certain personalities wouldn't mix well sharing one bike.