Tandem Cycling - Rebuild or New?

My wife and I are trying to determine if it is better to rebuild our 18 year old Kuwahara or buy a new tandem. Any thoughts or suggestiuons would be appricated.

Thanks

HOw 'bout some details, like what it's made of, how equppied, how it fits, what kind of shape is it in, etc.... Ater 18 years I'd guess it's time for something new, but if it's a legendary frame that fits perfectly, perhaps upgrade some of the running gear.

My wife and I are trying to determine if it is better to rebuild our 18 year old Kuwahara or buy a new tandem. Any thoughts or suggestiuons would be appricated.

I guess I'd be interested in knowing when the last time was that you rode it, how well it performed given the type of riding you were doing, and how you plan to use it in the future?

The Kuwahara tandems were essentially straight gauge 4130 knock-offs of Santana's early Marathon frames with 2" removed from the stoker compartment, i.e., 25" instead of 27". To Elrey's question; how's it fit? Today's tandems are closer to 27.5" or 28".

Most all late 80's Kuwahara's had 140mm rear spacing and many of them had 27" wheels with 6 or 7 speed SunTour shifting systems. Wheel reliability was spotty and broken spokes weren't unusual. 27" tires can still be found, but aren't always stocked at bike shops.

In their day, they worked OK and were on par with the Schwinn and Gitane tandems but, like those brands, quickly fell behind the power curve in the 90's when the frames were vastly improved along with the componentry.

Bottom Line: If what you have works "well enough", clean it up and put some new tires on it and make sure you're still interested in riding together. If you are and you're still hankering for something newer, it becomes a budget issue: how much do you have to spend on a new tandem? There are some relatively inexpensive (~$1k) import entry level models that would be a significant upgrade to the Kuwahara and even a second hand Santana, Co-Motion, Burley or Cannondale from the mid to late 90's would be significant upgrade that could be had for similar money, perhaps $1,500. You would gain the drive train improvements of 8 or perhaps even 9 speed shifting, better brakes, lighter wheels, and a more efficient frame in either case.

I think T'geek has kinda answered this question: if it's a 4130 straight cromo frame I'd consider upgrading. I think you'll be surprised at how good the newer stuff rides. I bought a Cdale road last year and it is a very nice machine out of the crate for a decent price, as an example. KHS makes a road tandem that's even more reasonable. My CO MOtion is nicer but a lot more money.

On reflection, it's possible that there were some 10/7/10 double butted tubes in the frameset -- coincidentally used on Santana's pre'84 tandems -- but compared to what we know expect from butted tubesets they might as well have been straight gauge... particularly with the very short frame.

FWIW: As a point of reference, I had an '87 Kuwahara Cougar MTB that used silver soldered and lugged triple butted Ishiwata tubing and that thing was a tank. The workmanship was outstanding; made in Japan and marketed in the US under the Kuwahara name.

Kuwahara? A blast fron the past!
Most we've seen were white with rainbow highlights; did see one blue one.
Agree that for it's day it was a good intro tandem at a good price.
If you don' plan to do much riding keep the Kuwa; but would not sink a lot of $$ into upgrading.
If you are more serious about riding, and your wallet can take it, a newer tandem would be a much better investment. Yes, we said 'investment.' 'Cause at today's prices that's what it is. But compared to a heart bypass, an investment in a new tandem can benefit the two-of-you.

Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Thanks for the info.

The bike is in good shape and fits well ridden weekly, but on our last 50 miler we noticed that we were getting passed by most other newer tandems. We ride regularily 30 or so miles a week and at least one longer ride a month. We are riding more each month and are planning on a century this summer.

We are considering a new co-motion robusta or possibly a Paketa magnesium bike. I would appriecate any feed back on these or any recommendations you may have because bikes at this level are an inveatment.

Thanks for the info.

The bike is in good shape and fits well ridden weekly, but on our last 50 miler we noticed that we were getting passed by most other newer tandems. We ride regularily 30 or so miles a week and at least one longer ride a month. We are riding more each month and are planning on a century this summer.

We are considering a new co-motion robusta or possibly a Paketa magnesium bike. I would appriecate any feed back on these or any recommendations you may have because bikes at this level are an inveatment.

That most other tandems are newer than yours is no surprise. However, the question really is: do you think your older tandem is slowing you down or do you just want something newer? If you want something new, how much can you spend on it? How tall are you and your stoker, how old are you, what's your total combined team weight and where are you located?

FWIW: We regularly get passed by other teams riding newer, lighter tandems. Chances are, they'd also pass us on your Kuwahara because they train hard and have been doing so for a long time. Conversely, we pass a lot of newer and more expensive tandems on our 8 year old, 36lb steel tandem. While we might find a Robusta a bit more spry, at the end of the day the only way the Robusta would make us any faster in a meaninful way (other than being a bit stiffer and lighter for sprinting & climbing) would be if having the new tandem inspired us to start training instead of just logging junk miles for recreation and fitness. Just something to keep in mind. New tandems are like new cars; they look and feel better than most old ones and that's OK to. At the end of the day, it's a tandem's motors that make the biggest difference when it comes to performance.