Recumbent - "Performer" brand "Tandem Family"

I am trying to buy a "Performer" brand "Tandem Family" but the site has no way to do it and the way that was suggested in their reply to my email asking how, is too risky. I can't find anyone who sells them in the U.S. Can anyone who has bought one of these please tell me how to do it, safely. Thanks very much.

Just bought one. Paid by Paypal. Bike arrived in 4 days. Christine Cheng was very responsive to email enquiries and will help with assembly questions.

No risk in buying through them with Paypal. But you could also buy through the US distributor.

Buying through a US distributor was my first preference but I was unable to. One distributor, who replied to my email fairly promptly, explained that he wouldn't deal with the Tandem because of shipping costs. Of the other two dealers I could find, one never responded to emails, and the other had no contact information on the company's website.

I received amazingly prompt and efficient service from Performer in Taiwan although like others I was initially reluctant to send that sum of money overseas.

So, how much was shipping, import duty, etc? The Performer High Racer has really caught my eye, but nobody's importing them that I can see.

SP
Bend, OR

Check ActionBent (www.actionbent.com (http://www.actionbent.com)) and Recumbent USA (www.recumbentusa.com (http://www.recumbentusa.com)). They carry many models of the TWBents and Performance bikes and trikes.

Dave

Quoted price included door to door shipping (by TNT express & locally delivered by UPS).
No duty charged (fortunately). Performance quotes 5 days delivery (if your bike is ready - only takes a few days if your color is not in stock). Mine was delivered in 4 days.

If you are not looking for a tandem there should be no problem buying through a US retailer however.

So, how much was shipping, import duty, etc? The Performer High Racer has really caught my eye, but nobody's importing them that I can see.

I've heard through the grapevine that Actionbent may be distributing this new highracer. It was mentioned in another thread about the Performer FWD lowracer. New bikes normally appear in Spring, but I'm wondering if the poor economy will cause a delay...

I ordered my Trike-X yesterday (March 1), Christine said 5 days for painting and assembly (they're even going to personalize mine by putting my name on the frame!), and 5 days for shipping to my door by TNT. It'll be interesting to see how long it actually takes.

Cyclebiker, did yours show up in good condition? My main concern is damage in shipping, altho Christine assured me that they'd make anything right if there was damage.

Dave

Just bought one. Paid by Paypal. Bike arrived in 4 days. Christine Cheng was very responsive to email enquiries and will help with assembly questions.

How is it? Are you willing to tell us what you paid? I was seriously thinking about a Performer Family Tandem when I got my lucky hands on a 1984 Counterpoint Opus II.

I ordered my Trike-X yesterday (March 1), Christine said 5 days for painting and assembly (they're even going to personalize mine by putting my name on the frame!), and 5 days for shipping to my door by TNT. It'll be interesting to see how long it actually takes.

Cyclebiker, did yours show up in good condition? My main concern is damage in shipping, altho Christine assured me that they'd make anything right if there was damage.

Dave

The bike and parts were very well packaged by Performer but some idiot has seriously bashed the box down damaging the 53 tooth big ring in spite of it being wrapped in two layers of thick cardboard. Christine was ready to send me a new ring but I had a couple of new ones lying around. I did need to adjust the steering headset, Christine even offered to send me a new one of those if I thought there was something wrong with it, and she emailed a breakdown pic of the headset parts (it was just a standard headset inverted) so adjustment was easy once I knew the type of headset.

Apart from the chainring damage the bike was in very good condition with an excellent paint job which also seems to be quite a tough paint also.

How is it? Are you willing to tell us what you paid? I was seriously thinking about a Performer Family Tandem when I got my lucky hands on a 1984 Counterpoint Opus II.

Delivered price was $1565. We rode it yesterday though not very far. I made a freewheel for the stoker in front and so we had not ridden since I got it while I worked on that. Yesterdays trial revealed that I need a better chain tensioner (this because of my freewheel - the way the bike comes you can adjust the tension with the front boom but the pedals are coupled like on a conventional tandem which I didn't want). I can still tension the front chain with the boom but the chain from my freewheel on the frame under the seat going down to the captain idler needs a good tensioner.

Delivered price was $1565. We rode it yesterday though not very far. I made a freewheel for the stoker in front and so we had not ridden since I got it while I worked on that. Yesterdays trial revealed that I need a better chain tensioner (this because of my freewheel - the way the bike comes you can adjust the tension with the front boom but the pedals are coupled like on a conventional tandem which I didn't want). I can still tension the front chain with the boom but the chain from my freewheel on the frame under the seat going down to the captain idler needs a good tensioner.

Pretty good price!

Tell me more about how you did the stoker's freewheel; did that involve a whole new crank or something? You may be able to get the right tension just by switching to a slightly larger chain ring --one more tooth would make the chain 1/2" tighter. It'll throw the timing off a little, but on the semi-recumbent that doesn't matter! The Opus II has a 5-speed freewheel for the stoker; the freewheel is on a hub that can move forward or backward like in dropouts. So the stoker has his/her own derailleur and bar end shifter attached to the front of the seat. The independent shifting turns out to be very useful, judging by how often my wife shifts.

When you consider the Hase Pino is around $5000 plus shipping, that is a great price. I almost bought one last year but didn't know if I could handle the upright position in back. If it was a little more like a crank forward in the back I would be all over it.

Actually, the riding position of the "captain" rear rider does have an unusually forward location for the bottom bracket in reference to the saddle, not as forward as a "crank forward" bike, but certainly mroe forward than a regular upright bike.

How much does a Bilenky Opus II weigh with that independent pedaling setup?

How much does a Bilenky Opus II weigh with that independent pedaling setup?

I haven't weighed mine! It's not light, I can promise you that; I'll guess it's a little over 50 lbs.

Oh, minor correction:
The Opus II was made by Counterpoint Conveyance; Bilenky's bike is called a Viewpoint; Angletech's version is the Harmony.

I was just in contact with Christine and I can get the frameset for the tandem for $840 shipped to my door.

I haven't weighed mine! It's not light, I can promise you that; I'll guess it's a little over 50 lbs.

That's quite a bit of extra weight just for independent pedaling action, between my stoker and I, I do more coasting at the back than she does.

The Tandem Family I have weighs about 38 lb. with (4) LOOK MTB pedals, those pedals are about a pound each.

I was just in contact with Christine and I can get the frameset for the tandem for $840 shipped to my door.

Way to go! Make sure you get any proprietary parts, such as the handlebar, stoker's seat, etc.


That's quite a bit of extra weight just for independent pedaling action, between my stoker and I, I do more coasting at the back than she does.

The Tandem Family I have weighs about 38 lb. with (4) LOOK MTB pedals, those pedals are about a pound each.

38 lbs, that's excellent! The Opus weighs more because it's a very different bike, and overbuilt in many ways. It has a conventional handlebar, for example, which is entirely behind the stoker's seat, whereas the Hase/Performer design has this clever handlebar that puts the captain's hands out to the sides of the stoker's head; this allows them to shorten --and lighten-- the bike quite a bit. The independent pedaling mechanism --an extra hub, a 5-sp freewheel, a derailleur and shifter-- adds a couple pounds but hardly makes up the difference.

What kind of setup have you guys used to get independent pedaling / coasting? If I get one of these it I will be using it with my 8 year old.

As far as the frameset goes this is what I was told:

Family frameset :
frame + front boom
front fork + headset
FRP seat 1pcs
handlebar *2
seatpost *1
Total : USD690.-
air freight : USD150.-

Best Regards
Christine/Performer

She also said in a previous email that I could get it any color I wanted and even have my name painted on it. Sounds pretty reasonable and I have many of the parts needed to complete it.

Don't forget the steering linkage between the captn's handlebar and the fork.

Don't forget the steering linkage between the captn's handlebar and the fork.

I emailed her and the linkage was included as well.

So are you getting the frameset from Performer Recumbent, Christine?

Christine at Performer is very good to deal with....I sent my PayPal payment for my Trixe-X in Sunburst Orange on a Sunday evening, she answered me almost immediately (near as I can figure, she must live in their office, seems like no matter what time of day or night I sent emails, she answered within an hour at most!), and asked me if I wanted my name painted on the trike (sure!). It shipped the following Monday morning (Taiwan time) and was in my driveway Wednesday morning! To make matters better, I emailed haer a couple days later and asked if I could buy a small bottle of touch-up paint, she told me that she'd send it right out, and 3 days later it was delivered! I can't hardly get that kind of delivery speed even in-state! And no charge!

My Trike-X is a great machine, and in many ways I like it better than my Ice T. Quality of workmanship is excellent, most components are better than my T came with, I like the direct steering, and it turns much tighter than the T. And I think it's a little faster than my T. It's a fun ride.

Dave

what's the performer website with this amazing Christine, by the way?

what's the performer website with this amazing Christine, by the way?

Here is the performer website: http://www.performer.com.tw/2009/product_info.php?cPath=30&products_id=46

Pretty good price!

Tell me more about how you did the stoker's freewheel; did that involve a whole new crank or something? You may be able to get the right tension just by switching to a slightly larger chain ring --one more tooth would make the chain 1/2" tighter. It'll throw the timing off a little, but on the semi-recumbent that doesn't matter! The Opus II has a 5-speed freewheel for the stoker; the freewheel is on a hub that can move forward or backward like in dropouts. So the stoker has his/her own derailleur and bar end shifter attached to the front of the seat. The independent shifting turns out to be very useful, judging by how often my wife shifts.
The stokers freewheel is simply mounted in place of the second idler (Performer pics show only one idler but mine came with two). The idler boss is threaded M10x1.25 into the frame. I machined a freewheel carrier out of aluminum with two bearings to run on a M10x1.25 bolt. I braced this forward to the other idler to help share the load. The freewheel carrier has a plain sprocket for the stoker chain and a freewheel for the rear chain.

I thought about a 1 tooth different chainring to get the chain tension right but didn't have any chainrings the right size handy so I adapted a rear deraileur chain tensioner to replace my plain idler chain tensioner and that can be seen in the pic.

I considered a tandem hub for the frewheel carrier and even entertained the idea of giving the stoker the option of a multi-speed set-up but realised that had the potential to be troublesome if my wife shifted to a gear that suited her just before I shifted and then she would get ticked off at me for shifting.

Nice setup Cycle Biker! Would it be possible to get a close up picture from above to get a better feel for how you did it? I am real close to pulling the trigger on getting a frameset and would want to set up a freewheel front for my daughter.

So how are you liking the Tandem so far? How does the stoker like being up front like that? I couldn't ride up front like that for anything, I'd feel totally out of control. :eek: Not everyone feels that way though. Check out these guys on a Hase Pino:
http://generationsfutures.chez-alice.fr/velo/tand_hase_pino.jpg
I showed that to my future stoker and she about freaked out!

Well here's a couple more pics I have. I can't really get a good pic from above because the freewheel is right under the seat - which keeps it quite tidily out of the way. In fact, one of the things I like about this setup is how tidily the freewheel locates in that position. I don't know for sure just how sturdy the freewheel mounting is but my wife is not going to pedal all that hard anyway and i would think this setup ought to work for an 8 year old. There are also other ways to brace the freewheel bolt also for more strength.

Haven't ridden the bike since the chain tensioner mod but we are hoping for a good long ride this coming weekend now the freewheel and chain tensioner is sorted.

I had to really crank down the handle bar clamps at first - so much so that I was afraid of stripping threads - there are no serrations to help the bars or clamps grip and there is a lot of leverage from these long bars. The handlebars feel a little flexible too and I would not go downhill at any great speed until I had more experience with this bike. I have been thinking of ways to stiffen up the bars.

Here are the pics. The first shows the freewheel carrier I made together with the bearings for it and the spacer which fits between the bearing inner races (very important so that the bearings are not laterally loaded). The second pic is a closeup of the assembly on the bike (there is another small spacer just under the 10mm bolt head)

http://www.performer.com.tw/2009/

And here are the tandem bikes in question:

Because of positive enquiries about the freewheel which I installed and a couple of enquiries from forum members asking if I could make the parts for them to do this conversion if they were to order the Tandem Family model, I communicated my design to Performer and I have an email back from Christine who says that her boss will provide a stoker freewheel to those who would like one, similar to my design. I imagine they would also be able to provide one with a shifting option like the counterpoint. Don't know how this might affect the price - perhaps someone can post that info later.

I am not keen on a shifting option for the stoker as the stoker is going to be affected by all the captains shifts, and will be constantly forced to shift to suit their own cadence. If the stoker rides with a different cadence from the captain that can be accommodated with a difference between the freewheel and stoker driving sprockets.

Nice setup Cycle Biker!
+1!
... How does the stoker like being up front like that? I couldn't ride up front like that for anything, I'd feel totally out of control. :eek:I haven't tried it, since I'm the captain on my tandem, being the largest person in my family; but I'm told it's a lot like sitting in the passenger seat of a car. If you can do one, you can do the other.

Thanks for the picture of the Pino going downhill! I'll have to show that to my wife in carefully controlled circumstances....