Size (&/or sizing up) a tandem

[danbikesalot]

Hello:
I looked at a Santana Tandem (road bike) this weekend. It appears to be an older bike. But the Owner bought it second hand as a spur of the moment purchase and is pretty clueless about what he has. Please help me answer the following...

SIZE: Owner says the bike is a LARGE frame. But, it feels smaller than that to me. The captain's top tube measures c-c 21 1/2 " and seat tube measures approx 22" maybe a little more ...couldn't make it come out to 23". Is this a MEDIUM frame or a LARGE frame?

AGE: Owner has no idea. He says he phoned SANTANA and they have no record of the serial number. (not surprised...I've been emailing Santana for two weeks now and have received no replyother than to acknowledge receipt of my first email) I suspect it's an early 1990s bike because... DISHED rear wheel (Shimano Deore XT rear hub approx 100mm), Shimano 600 down tube shifters, deraillers, cranks etc., quill syle handle bar stem, Bio-Pace chain rings, and cantilever breaks. What do you think?

VALUE: Owner wants $2k. I'm thinking it's worth 1/2 as much. Am I way off base?

Thank you.

[galen_52657]

Bio-Pace chain rings went out 15 years ago.

Sounds like a large size. Santana also makes an XL. You want a little extra crotch clearance on a tandem so you can spread out your feet to hold the bike while stoker mounts up and to clear stoker backpeddaling.

Check to see if wheels/tires are 27" or 700c. Way more tire choices in 700c. You could switch out the wheels from 27" to 700c but that would be an added expense. $2K is a pipe dream. 1/3 - 1/2 that figure would be more like it.

[TandemGeek]

Is this a MEDIUM frame or a LARGE frame? VALUE: Owner wants $2k. I'm thinking it's worth 1/2 as much. Am I way off base?

It's a medium if the top tube is 21.5".

For reference, Santana's approximate dimensions for Captain / Stoker in millimeters are:
Seat Tube: S = 50.5 / 46.....M = 54 / 48.....L = 58 / 50.....XL = 62 / 54
Top Tubes: S = 53.0 / 70.....M = 54 / 70.....L = 57 / 70.....XL = 58 / 70
Standover: S = 72.0 / 69.....M = 78 / 72.....L = 81 / 75.....XL = 84 / 78

On the price, depending on the condition you're probably in the ballpark with your offer. For s--ts and giggles, I ran the tables out on my used tandem pricing guide (http://www.thetandemlink.com/usedhome.html) and the results for early 90's tandems (which is what this sounds like) came as reflected in the table at the bottom of this note. High range would be for an exceptional example in like new condition, medium would be average condition and in good repair, low would be well worn but still servicable and reliable. Anything that needs a lot of work is off of this scale.

Finally, you will usually get better results calling Santana vs. Email. As for any timeliness of response problems over the past couple weeks please take note that last week was Interbike week at Las Vegas and almost everyone in the bicycle manufacturing and sales business would have been hard to reach during the weeks leading up to the event and out of the office last week. They will all be clearing out their backlog of phone messages and Emails over the next week, as well as reconciling their pre-orders for '06: busy time of year....

[danbikesalot]

Excellent! Thank you to both of you for your help. (I forgot about Interbike, so, my appologies to SANTANA for dissing them in the email) --Dan

[danbikesalot]

One more question if I may...

My inseam is 90 cm. I assume I should be looking for a "large" size tandem?

Thanks again.