Maiden Voyage on Raleigh Coupe '05

[TeCKis300]

Just got our new Raleigh Coupe '05 yesterday. Took 2 days to order down here in San Diego from Bike Empire on Poway. Want to thank Tim Gill and the team there for a great price, delivery, and service.

Went for a wonderful 9 mile ride this morning at Miramar Lake. Gorgeous weather on a most wonderful tandem. Couldn't have been more joyful. My wife has been tentative about the whole tandem thing, but yet had so much fun today. We were doing pretty well right off the bat. Pretty much stayed on the largest cog throughout the ride, even pedaling through the tight turns. Had a nice lunch at the end of the trail and rode back even faster. Got many comments on the bike. Pretty much passed everyone exept for one pro looking guy who jokingly mentioned that we should be riding twice as fast as him on a tandem. I couldn't be happier besides our sore bottoms. All in all, I think it was a great purchase. Bike shifted beautifully and braked with confidence. Very lightweight also...easy enough to put in the back of the SUV with only 1 person.

Now to add a bike computer and a rear rack. Anyone have any suggestions on the bike computer? The rear rack will take a bit more effort due to the disc brakes.

http://www.teckkits.com/Fun/Raleigh%20Coupe%2005.jpg

[DocF]

As to racks, I'm really partial to Old Man Mountain racks. They mount to V-brake or canti bosses. Here is a link:Old Man Mountain (http://www.oldmanmountain.com/)

Doc

[Litespeed]

Nice looking bike! Glad you could stop for a while and enjoy our city, Miramar Lake is certainly pretty and you picked a great day for it. Hope you can come back sometime and enjoy more of our city, plenty of places to see. If you do come back, be sure and visit this website and it will tell you all the great biking places around here.
www.efgh.com/bike

[Clayton]

Congratulations!!!

Outstanding bike. Hope each ride will be better than the prior one.

Stoker and I use an Old Man Mountain rack; it works very well.

[TeCKis300]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.

Litespeed,

I'm like a few minutes away from Miramar Lake. I'm sure we will be there a lot. Looking for some longer rides now. Went on another great 16 mile ride this morning on Silver Strand trail south of Coronado. We are enjoying this way more than we thought we would. Oh, and thanks so much for the link. Will come in handy.

Anyone have suggestions on a wireless trip computer?

[stapfam]

On the Computer, I use a Cateye model, Can't tell you the model no, but it is the basic one without any Gizmos on it like Cadence or Heart monitor. Now on the rear Rack I use a seat post mounted one. Thanks to the same problem that you have of Disk brakes. Not suitable for heavy loads but it comfortably takes a top bag and up to around a total of 20lbs weight.

Nice bike by the way. Nice to see a Raleigh that I like the look of.

[Brian]

Supergo sometimes puts their wireless with HRM on sale for about $25-30. At that price, it's hard to pass up the HRM, even if you don't plan on using it often. We use a rack that mounts to the rear seatpost, due to the disc mounts as well. Topeak has some nice racks with quick release bags.

Nice tandem too!

[Mhendricks]

Congratulations!!!

Outstanding bike. Hope each ride will be better than the prior one.



We have a Raleigh Coupe '04 and just did a 25 mile over the weekend at the MS Bike Tour in Pleasanton, Ca. My wife and I had the best ride to date and the bike ran so smooth. What a great weekend for all of us. Enjoy!

[zonatandem]

Enjoy the 'Coupe-for-2!'
We us the Planet Bike computer: cheap/works fine, and it shows 5 functions simultaneously; they also have one a couple $ more that shows the temperature
You should have braze-ons for a rear rack, so there are lots of choices there.
Old Man Mt. racks are pricier, but much sturdier/stronger than other racks. They attach to the V-brake studs.
Wlecome to the tandem world!

Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/Zonatandem