Tandem Cycling - wheel choice for tandem on rails-to-trails

We are considering a purchase of our first tandem. Enjoyed the Kettle Valley Railway a few years ago when kiddo could fit a trail-a-bike. Now we have a line on a Burley Duet and am wondering how it's 700c wheels would handle mostly packed gravel, but also the occasional loose stuff. Initially, we liked the larger wheel for road riding and am hoping forum users can tell us what to expect in handling if we put on the largest tire possible on the 700c wheels. BTW, what is the largest tire you can put on and still fit this frame?
There is also a 26" Burly Samba for sale in our area, but we like the components and setup of the Duet better, just not sure on the handling.
All comments, general or specific, are appreciated.

We had a 1994 Burley Duet we just sold. Road it on double track with 32c tires with no problems.

I don't think you'll have problems with a reasonably heavy duty 28c on a rails trail, and certainly not with a 32c.

As for the largest size, I'm sure you get 35c on ours. Also will depend on what kind of brakes you're running. If it has cantilevers (like ours) it won't be a problem running a wider tire.

Thanks for the response. From what I can gather, it's the quality of tire and type of tread that matters most. Oh, and personal preference too!

We bit on the Burley Duet this morning and have a great time cruising around town with our 9 year old stoker. For the upcoming rails-to-trails trip this summer, I'm contemplating a tire change and am looking for suggestions. I'm leaning toward a hybrid or cyclocross 35, 38 or 40c knobby tire, either with or without a smooth center channel. What make/models are recommended?? Is kevlar a must? Whatever is recommended, I would think I would need to carry a foldable version, right?

Thanks for helping with my newbie questions.

Knobbies would really slow you down and unless you are completely off road
which RTR are not, I would stick to slicks of some type. If you do plan off
road then knobbies might be in order. If the RTR has the original RR gravel
road bed then knobbies would be a better choice but if groomed for walkers,
runners and bikes knobbies would be more annoying than beneficial.

Thanks Sch. Knobbies or hybrid are definately in order for one of the two RTR we are planning on doing. So far all I can find are 35, 38 and 40c cyclocross tires but they don't have reinforced sidewalls, kevlar, etc... like the street tires I see recommended for tandems. So any specific pointers are appreciated.

My wife and I live 2 miles from Missouri's KATY trail so we ride it's crushed limestone surface a lot. Our Santana has 700 X 28c Gatorbacks. I can't remember a situation on the trail when I thought they were inadequate.

I'm not a particularly dareing captain. We've frequently walked short gravel sections on otherwise paved road rides but have never found that to be necessary on the KATY.

The KATY trails looks/sounds interesting! We are thinking of doing a second trip on the Kettle Valley Railway in British Columbia. Last time we did it in August and the pea gravel was very thick and loose in places. We were on mtn. bikes the last time and were spinning in granny gears on the flats it was so thick. Granted, these relatively short sections (1-2 miles) are not indicative of the whole ride (~100 mi.), but I don't want my wife and 9-year old on the tandem to get 'stuck'. Keep the recommendations coming!! Very awesome, THANKS.

we ran avocet cross tires for awhile. The inverted tread works reasonably well on gravel, lose dirt.

And the inverted tread pattern is faster on pavement than a knobby.

http://www.avocet.com/tirepages/cross_2_specs.html

If you want something grip in loose conditions but still rolls ok on pavement they're a reasonable compromise.

And as for carrying an extra tire, I would just pack a tire boot. A 2" section of an old tire will boot just about any sidewall cut.

Specialized All Condition 700x28, 1997 Burley Duet, riders-plus-bike weight 440 lbs., 1,000 miles without a puncture/failure. We ride mainly pavement but plenty of dirt, gravel, and trails in New Mexico desert and California gravel roads and street crud, good traction, fast/stable tire off-road for its size. I don't hesitate to go off pavement with these tires; very stable at high speeds (45-50 mph) with our weight. I road RTR in Wisconsin, these tires would be perfect for that packed gravel/dirt.

I add my vote to the list of folks who say knobbies only for very loose sand/dirt/gravel. I have mountain biked for years in Utah and Colorado, including a Burley Samba set up for trail - never needed knobbies.

The Samba will handle better than the Duet in my opinion on tight, slow stuff. With that said, the Duet is so much better in every other way on the road that unless you are riding primarily near-technical off-road trails, go with the Duet. I road the Samba often with slicks on long, paved rides. It was better than no tandem at all, but the Duet is the bike for roads, be they dirt, gravel or pavement.

We spent a couple of days last summer on some crushed limestone trails in Illinois. Our Burley Duet had 700 x 25c Gatorskins at the time, and the only times I felt they weren't adequate were those few times where we encountered piles of loose gravel.

If we were going to ride exclusively on the trails, I would probably opt for something a little wider and with a hair of tread.

I've never felt the need to carry an extra tire with us, even on week long trips. I've taken one and left it in our luggage, but I figure I can always boot a tire well enough to get us to the end of the day (Hope I didn't just jinx our next outing!).

We didn't know much about RTR's until a trip to the eastern part of the US last year as we have none in this general area. Got in just under 400 miles on the joint Allegany Passage (AP) and C&O Canal RTR's, also did a couple of shorter ones in New Hampshire. Biggest lesson learned was... they are really cool BUT all RTR surfaces are not created equal.
So for tire choice...unless I know a specific trail's surface for certain, as well as how it reacts to rain, I would go with a quality, slightly over inflated 32c or 35c cyclocross tire that is designed for hardpack surfaces, not the ones for grass or mud. These hardpack tires generally have "fairly smooth..ish" centers that really roll well but have shoulders with much more aggressive traction that really helps when the surface goes soft or rocky.
Two tires that I have used are Michelin Cyclo Cross Jet and Ritchey Speedmax Pro (a little more aggressive center but still rolls well on smoother non paved surfaces). While I liked both of these on RTR's, I would not recommend them for much pavement riding because they will wear in a hurry and they have way too much cornering side-flex for my liking. For reference, we are a 300 pound team that normally run 28c Conti's GP 4 Season tires on the pavement.

FWIW the AP (fabulous surface of nice crushed limestone) and the C&O (reasonable surface overall but with some mud and exposed tree roots in places that can get dicey on wet mornings or rainy days) are two fabulous, pleasant, easy riding experiences that I would highly recommend. On the other hand, while I would also recommend the very scenic ones I experienced in the New Hampshire area, (I can't recall the trail names) I would caution that may have far more challenging surfaces in many places. So much so that some simply needed a full on mountain bike with some serious tires.... at least that was the case for me as I'm an old school roadie with no mountain bike skills to speak of despite flogging one around in the dirt from time to time here in the Sierra.

singler...welcome to the fun of tandems, good luck and enjoy the RTR's


Bill J