Tandem Noob

[drdhsimon]

Hi all....first time in this forum.

I've been road riding for years, and this summer my wife and I were at her family's summer place on a lake in Iowa, and we borrowed a friend's tandem. It was an old flat-bar Trek, I think steel, and we enjoyed ourselves. She doesn't currently ride, but has been talking about it lately if we bought a tandem.

I know nothing about them, and there isn't really a tandem specific shop here in Austin. Can anyone help point me toward a reasonable place to start? I'd like a road tandem with middle of the road parts (Shimano 105 equivalent). Material not too important (Al vs. steel, I ride a carbon roadie). Thanks...

[waterrockets]

You should talk with the guys in the TxCats group. I'm on their mailing list, and they seem extremely friendly, helpful, knowledgable, and active. The site's out of date, but they respond to the email address.

http://www.txcats.org/

I see Bicycle Sport Shop (the S. Lamar location) recommended often for bike, advice, and mechanics.

[masiman]

If you do make the plunge, many suggest getting a starter tandem first. You'll need to try to test ride some to figure out exactly what you like. After that, there is a pretty good used tandem market out there. One of the contributors here, TandemGeek, runs Tandem Link (http://www.thetandemlink.com). You can find some links to tandem classifieds there. Ebay has its own pitfalls but can be a resource. It is a good time of year to be looking as many are or will be coming on the market with the onset of winter.

I hope you and your wife find this to be something you like and pick it up as a hobby.

Good Luck.

[just me]

We did a lot of reading before we made the leap. I would recommend you start with these 2 websites.
Sheldon Brown Tandem Articles (http://sheldonbrown.com/tandem) and
TandemGeeks Site (http://www.thetandemlink.com/LearningCenter.html)

These guys and several others have spent a tremendous amount of time gathering information that is very valuable and proved helpful to us.

Jack

[ElRey]

cannondale road tandem.

[Redpath]

cannondale road tandem.
+1

Cannondale Road Tandem. Had mine almost 5 years now. We're still in love.

[drdhsimon]

Thanks for the resources all....i guess this is a whole new world!