Tandem Cycling - Very cool rear susp tandem

Check out this cool tandem on Ebay. It has rear suspension!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tom-Bruni-Custom-Tandem-Titanium-Frame-Root-Beer_W0QQitemZ130267763048QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item130267763048&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

Very cool. The rear I understand, but what's with the short downtube in the front?

I've hyperlinked a letter from Larry Black about Tom Bruni. Tom definitely marched to the beat of a different drummer and as was previously mentioned built very innovative bikes. My husband does a local vintage ride every year and the Bruni bikes come out 'en mass.
http://www.bike123.com/Tom%20Bruni.htm
He was a neat guy - and unfortunately met his fate cycling.

Very cool. The rear I understand, but what's with the short downtube in the front?

Tom Bruni was something of an innovator and out-of-the-box thinker...

Fat / thin steel tubing, open frames, unusual geometry, shock dampened "flexible" frames, full-size non-coupled take-apart tandems ala Bike Friday, and 26" wheeled road tandems were all things he dabbled with along with many others.

He actually passed back on July 9, 2005... which makes the comments on the Ebay are a bit odd, as most folks who "knew" Tom or owned one of his tandems would have known that... but perhaps his reference is to "learning" of Tom's passing earlier this year.
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=122038

Looked at it and that is one weird set of tubes. Now it has rear suspension-and rigid fork. It must have been made for a stoker with a very fragile butt.

Not enough details on the rest of the spec of the components to evaluate- but I suppose the only way to check a bike like this out is to ride it.

And I do not know of Tom Bruni- or his bikes- but my first impression is that even the best can have an off day.

Sorry if it upsets some of you but Only my first impression. Test ride might change my mind though

Now it has rear suspension-and rigid fork.

.... which is basically what you have with anyone who rides a road tandem fitted with either a suspension seatpost or an Allsop Softride beam.

As noted in the write up, this started off as one of Tom's personal tandems that he rode with his wife Theresa, noting Theresa pretty much rode seated 99% of the time. It suffices to say, Tom experimented with a number of different rear suspension systems that didn't compromise the stoker's pedal stoke by replacing the moving saddle with a suspended rear triangle.

We first met Tom and Theresa at the 1998 Southern Tandem Rally in Selma, Alabama and he brought along a different personal tandem that also featured a suspended rear triangle. It was a 26" wheeled tandem with an open frame fabricated out of very large diameter, thin-walled steel tubing and featured and spring and elastomer rear suspension system similar to the Moot's YBB system except that I believe a small pivot was used aft of the rear bottom bracket. It also had a very long telescoping rear stoker compartment that could be lengthened or shortened and also allowed the tandem to be broken in two halves so that they could transport in the back of their small car and had only a set of aerobars for Theresa... again, noting that putting weight on hands was an issue for her.

The tandem up for sale appears to use a different approach for the rear suspension with a lot more travel and also suggests that Tom was experimenting with a non-conventional frame structure... never intended for mass consumption but most likely just to satisfy his own intellectual curiosity about frame design and function.

but I suppose the only way to check a bike like this out is to ride it.

Short of doing instrumented strain gauge testing and finite element analysis, that's probably true and it's for that very reason that Tom often time built one-off frames like this...

And I do not know of Tom Bruni- or his bikes- but my first impression is that even the best can have an off day

I did and I would suggest that the best and brightest don't usually follow convention with many of their designs and, as noted, often times do things for reasons that we don't appreciate or understand. IMHO, Tom would have enjoyed this 'discussion' and welcomed all critiques with a detailed explanation of what he was was trying to accomplish and the current owner may also have some insight into the design goals as I'm sure he also had a lot of questions about the bike before buying it from Tom.

Knew Tom Bruni for several years and to say the least, he was a great and innovative tandem builder.
He promoted open frame/large tube design when everyone else said NO to the idea. Did ride one of his open framed designs up a 4 story parking garage as stoker . . . convinced me he knew what he was doing.
Also saw one of take apart tandems (without S&S) and one of this mt. bike 2-seaters.
Tom was one-of-a-kind. He loved to discuss the merits of his designs.
Tom died in a bike/car collission 3 years ago.
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem