Tandem Cycling - Road tandems under $1500

My wife and I are both avid riders of both road and moutain bikes. Due to our different levels of fitness and the want of less sporty, more touring type rodbikes we had somewhat jokingly discussed getting a drop bar road tandem. After a quick look at the multi-thousand dollar prices for big names like Cannondale and Trek we ruled out the idea without much consideration. Then the other day at the LBS I noteced a KHS Milano listed for about $1400. I'm now starting to reconsider the possibility of a road tandem.

Are there any other brands in the same price range we might consider? We'd like a drop bar road style with at least Tiagra level.

Any opinions on KHS tandems or KHS bikes in general?

I have ridden the KHS Milano, and it is an excellent bike for the cost. Better than many, in fact. I don't hesitate to recommend it.

How about a higher-end used tandem?


KRhea

I can't speak for the KHS one way or the other but with some patience and homework you should be able to find a good used early to mid 90's road C'dale. It should be very close to the price range you are looking at and if it was reasonably well maintained, it will serve you very well for a long time. The main benefits in my mind are you will start with a good solid, built to last tandem that was built to be ridden a lot. Also if you decide to sell it for whatever reason you should easily get almost all your money back or if you want to upgrade it to newer components you will have a real solid/durable frame to build from.
I'm sure there are some other mfg's you can do the same thing with but we have had such outstanding service and fun with ours that it is hard not to recommend it to everyone.
Most important by far is make sure that what ever you buy that it fits you correctly. Good luck and have fun..

We just purchased a brand new Cannondale Tandem R3 for $1750 out the door. I am very impressed with this bike. For the price I think that the component level is very adequate. I'm used to riding higher end road bikes and I'm impressed with the build. It is definitely more along the touring feel for us, but that is exactly what we are going to do on it. At 35 lbs. out of the box I think that the weight is very respectable. I've got a full suspension mountain bike that weighs almost that much.

I know that it is a few hundred more than you were looking to spend, but for a brand new tandem at that price I think you should look into it.

Ben

Ben,
I am looking also to get a new Cannondale (street tandem). I have not yet seen one in the store but do you know if yours has a feature at the drop out to accept a child seat?

I don't know about the child seat setup. I know that I can put a skewer in to pull a trailer and you could hook up a trail a bike to the rear seatpost with no problem.

Sorry I don't have more info. than that.

Ben

Get a Trek T-900, change to thinner tires. = road tandem for $1100.

Check out this article by Bill McCready on Cheap Tandems.... Why pay more? (http://www.gtgtandems.com/tech/cheap.html) The numbers and years are a little out of date but the principles bear up.

Ben,
I am looking also to get a new Cannondale (street tandem). I have not yet seen one in the store but do you know if yours has a feature at the drop out to accept a child seat?

It looks like it has a threaded hole right at the dropout, and also upper rack mounts, like my old CAAD3 mountain bike had.

The angle on the seatstay looks pretty severe, so mounting a rack-mount child seat could be a bit of a trick. Some child seats are designed to clamp to the seatpost and stays; one of these might work for you. (I think the Topeak Babysitter, which mounts a special eyelet-mounted rack, is a better design.)

I have a Topeak Babysitter on my '97 RT1000 Cannondale... but that's a different frame.



PS - my tandem was $650, used, low miles... it was a wonderful deal.