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My husband and I are looking to buy a tandem. My husband is 5'10" and I am 5'4". We will be alternating as captains with our 10 year old as stoker (4'8") . Anyone have experience with a Trek Cruiseliner Tandem? Is is better than a T900?
dvs cycles
04-27-09, 05:40 PM
Better for what? Isn't the cruisliner a beach cruiser like tandem and the T900 a road bike?
WebsterBikeMan
04-27-09, 06:45 PM
Better for what? Isn't the cruisliner a beach cruiser like tandem and the T900 a road bike?
Looking at http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/2008/archive/t900, I'd say the T900 is in the "comfort bike" category as well. The cruiseliner has the styling to look more like a beach cruiser, and has Right Side Drive with what appears to be an idler wheel, whereas the T900 has cross-over drive with an eccentric. But looking at the bars, saddles, and wheels, they seem to be pitched at a similar demographic.
That said, the cruiseliner has more "cruiser" styling, but the T900 is better outfitted, and may well be lighter - or not - they've saved weight in some places but increased it elsewhere.
The cruiseliner is a seven-speed, the T900 24. The gear range in the middle ring of the T900 is almost as large as the entire gear range of the cruiseliner.
The bars are alloy on the T900, steel on the cruiseliner.
The T900 has a suspension seatpost (brand not indicated); the cruiseliner does not.
The wheels are 40 spoke on the T900, 36 on the cruiseliner. Might make no difference, but they appear to have expected the T900 to be ridden harder - meaning potentially faster and on rougher surfaces. Both the wheels and the seatpost would suggest so, although many tandem riders swear by suspension seatposts (at least the stokers do :)) even if they never ride on particularly rough surfaces.
So for many purposes, I'd say yes, the T900 is better. For many purposes (racing, loaded touring...), neither is of any use - in which case the cheaper one is wasting less money. I notice at least one web site lists the T900 (2009 - even though Trek no longer shows it as current;)) as $1100, whereas the Cruiseliner lists (Trek's site) at $750.
You can get the best suspension seat post on the market for a lot less than the $350 difference, and if you're only doing relatively flat, local rides, the Cruiseliner's gear range may be adequate. There is less to go wrong. But if you can pick up a lightly used T900 for the same price as the Cruiseliner (new), you won't be losing anything but the styling, and you will gain some versatility.
My husband and I are looking to buy a tandem. My husband is 5'10" and I am 5'4". We will be alternating as captains with our 10 year old as stoker (4'8") . Anyone have experience with a Trek Cruiseliner Tandem? Is is better than a T900?
Here's a visual comparison. The low step over for the rear may be more convenient, but may add to flexing. For it's intended use as a beach cruiser, it may do well.