Tandem Cycling - Buying our First Tandem

We (my wife of 33 years and I) are new to tandem biking ..just started about three weeks ago..and we are single road bikers. Some friends lent us a Roland mountain tandem which we are trying out to get the feel of tandem biking and so far it has been good. We are currently looking to buy a new or used tandem bike and test rode four bikes yesterday. The models we tested were the Trek 1000. The Canondale Road Tandem, CoMo Roadster and the Burley Tosa ...all Al bikes.The CoMo felt the best in terms of comfort and feel and speed but at 5k it was about twice our budget so we ruled it out. The Trek flexed a lot so we ware down to the Dale and the Burley. The Dale rode and shifted well and has a good component package almost equivalent to the CoMo (Ultegra front derailleurs, ultegra 9 speed shifters, XT rear derailleurs (CoMo has XTR), Mavic A179 wheels, DT swiss hub, (Co Mo has different set) and also comes with disc brakes on both front and rear wheels. The Dale carries a "fatty R" fork which looks very wide and is straight. My first question ..does anybody have experience with these forks...they felt OK on a 3 mile test ride but what about long term usage ? I am used to angled forks which provide some road flex..am I being too fussy here ? Also do any of you out there own this bike and what are your "unbiased" opinions ? The Dale flexed a little bit when the stoker ( my wife) pedaled hard but not as much as the Trek and she felt comfortable with it. Also what about the dished front wheels..the spokes are not angled equally on both sides of the hub because of the disc brake..is that a big deal ? . Now on to the Burley..it felt as comfortable as the Dale but it was the end of the day and we were tandemed out by then and felt tired. Also the component package (105 components) is not as good as the CoMo and Dale and at the same price it does not appear to be equal value for money. One more question..sorry to be long winded.. how does Canondale as a tandem manufacturer compare to the major leaguers we hear about so often (Santana, CoMo, Burley and even DaVinci (who is probably in a league of their own). As you can see we are confused on this whole tandem buying experience but I am sure that your advice can set us straight and will be well appreciated.Thank you.

All of the tandems you are looking at are first rate... no dogs in the pack.

Straight vs curved blade forks in a non-issue in terms of comfort, etc... They look different and that's about it: a curved fork blade does not provide any additional shock aborbing qualities vs a straight bladed fork.

Unless you and your stoker are very large, the asymetrical front wheel associated with dual discs isn't a big deal. I would also note, as hard as I've tried, I've yet to find any reports of front wheel or disc brake related failures on Cannondale's dual-disc equipped tandems in the 2.5 years they've been on the market. That doesn't guarantee there haven't been any, but I'm of a mind to believe that if there had been any failures word would have gotten out onto the boards by now.

So, at the end of the day, there are a couple things that should guide your decision:

1. Your budget
2. Finding the tandem that fits you and your stoker properly
3. Your riding impressions from the tandems you test rode that fit into your budget
4. The value you place on brand names and component levels and how buyer's remorse for going with 105 vs. Ultegra, etc... might nag on your conscience down the road making you second guess your selection.

I can only comment on the Cannondale. We've had ours for about a year and have put about 9,000 miles on it. We're VERY pleased with it and like it a lot. For the money, we felt like it had the highest quality components. What swayed us, though, was that we could actually get it at our local bike shop. Even though we live in the Orlando area, we couldn't get a local Burley, Co-Motion, etc.

We actually have a Trek T2000 that arrives next week that we bought for the same reason -- our favorite LBS carries it. It sounds like a small consideration, but we average 40-55 miles a day and ensuring that we get our tandem maintained quickly and easily is absolutely key.

We wanted two so one could always be on the road while the other was being maintained. We can't miss a day! :)

Tom

Try ebay - many almost new Co-Motions are bought in the 2 to 2.5k range and Cdales in the 1 to 1.8k range

You do not 'have to pay' 5K for a Co-Mo. Prices start at the 3K mark for steel frames. Will ride/handle quite similar to the 5K but will have a bit more weight and lower (but still very good) components
Also Burley has steel models out that are around the 2K range (and even bit less). Will be a huge improvement over Roland.
Agree, a nicely/lightly used tandem can take the bite out of the price compared to a new one; hey, this is your first tandem and you don't need to buy the ultimate dream machine just now.
Shop around a bit more . . . good luck!

Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

My wife and I recently purchased the Cannondale road tandem for similar reasons of component level, liked the dual disk brakes, and Cannondales quality reputation. We also test rode a Burley steel frame and found the frame flex objectionable and the shifting to be sloppy. This Burley was a lesser model, but whencomparing features-to-price we found the Cannondale to be best bang for the buck. Only 300+ miles so far, but we're very satisfied. I would recomend the Cannondale. Good luck with purchase!

I have the T2000, mainly because I liked the wheels and a good discount was avaliable as it was the red last-year's model. The T2000 from last year is quite a good buy if you can find one as the RRP was much lower than for the 2006 model (in the UK at least), even if you take into account the change to carbon forks in 2006. Cannondale's brakes are definitely superior, but you can fit a rear disc for about GBP70 to the rear of the Trek. I'm surprised you noticed much frame flex on the Trek - there is a bit, but to me it feels similar to a steel framed single bike, and it is definitely not a noodle.

Other thing to take into account when test riding is bar width - I'm sure this will change the feel of the bike as the stoker will have more leverage than usual. Our Trek came with hugely wide 46cm stoker bars, probably to fit the stoker round wider captains. My wife rides 38cm bars normally, so we tried some 40s as these are the narrowest that will fit round me and give room for stopping. Also the boat-anchor adjustable stem went - once you know where you want to be, a normal aheadset stem fits using the adjustable stem shim, and saves 1/2lb or so.

Thanks to you all for your help. I am still searching but have narrowed my choces to the Canondale and the CoMo, mainly because one of the LBS around here (Houston) carries both bikes and seems very knowledgeable and experienced with tandems. I went back and read a lot of the old posts on CoMo tandems and have been very impresssed particularly with some of Tandemgeek's posts on this topic...so I am leaning there a little. Will keep you posted. Thanks again.

Co-Motion all the way, you will not be sorry in the long run :D :D :D :D :D :D

Take Care and good Luck,
Bill G