Tandem Cycling - I'm In!!!

With the local bicycle shop going out of business, I picked up two Santana Tandems for $150 each

1. a 1990 Visa with a drum brake. Exellent shape.
2. a ~1979 in fair shape.

I gave the 1979 to a friend (well, sold it to him for what I paid). I kept the 1990. It is mostly LX components and seems to work quite well.

So, nothing else really to report, just letting y'all know that the adventure has started for me. Since I have never ridden a tandem before, I have convinced my son to do ride with me until I get good with it. Then I get the wife on.

I am off for one week bicycle tour, enjoy your week everybody

Dam! I always miss the good deals! Congrats!

You got lucky!
Enjoy riding TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Dam! I always miss the good deals! Congrats!
I did manage to get there at the right time for these. Whew...

You got lucky!
Enjoy riding TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Very lucky indeed. I actually think the 1979 may be worth more. The frame is awesome. The components are all a mixture for French stuff that seem to work OK. The 1990 one fit me better and the components are all LX stuff that work great. Both great deals. And, I should add, the bike shop owner was grateful as well. They had been sitting in his shop for years. He has so much stuff to get rid of that he was happy to part with them. So it worked out for all.

So, the real goal for me is to ride it enough and get my wife on it enough to see if tandeming is going to be for us. I ride quite a bit and she doesn't ride at all. So, this is my plan. If it really does work out for us, I can see buying a new tandem. I just didn't want to part with the cash to have it sit in the garage unused.

And having a 24 year old son is a real bonus. When I told him my plan of riding with him at first so if we crash it is no big deal, he just said 'cool'. If my wife even hears the crash word, she won't ride.

We set a goal of a tour on the tandem at Cape Cod, summer of 07.

Pictures, Pictures!!!!

Pictures, Pictures!!!!


Finally, (I was on an 8 day bike tour) my son and I just took the inaugural journey. We went 7 miles to his gym, I dropped him off and rode home alone. He will run home when done. I think I will like this.

Oh, I replaced the stem so it would fit better and I have not gotten around to rewrapping the bars.

...I have not gotten around to rewrapping the bars.

Yeah, I have to do that to our tandem as well. The aft cockpit bar tape is getting pretty rough.

Yeah, I have to do that to our tandem as well. The aft cockpit bar tape is getting pretty rough.

Well, I got back to the tandem yesterday and dug around looking for some tape. All I had was beige and yellow. I have no idea why I have those colors!! I only use black but I am out of black. So, I put on the beige.

I have one roll (half the job needed) of black. Our stoker's cockpit takes the brunt of the tape wear on the right (starboard side) because we tend to lean that side up against things when stopped. Her mirror is handlebar mounted on the left (port) side. So I guess half the tape on hand is all I need to fix things up for another season.