What kinds of tandems are y'all riding?

Road, Enduro, Off-Road/MTB?
Brand/Model - Purpose or use?

Just curious and thought it might be an interesting thread that everyone could engage in.

As for us...

Road:
Erickson/Signature - Recreational Riding
Erickson/S&S Custom - Travel Tandem

Off-Road:
Ventana/El Conquistador F/S - XC Single Track

We have a Santana Team Ti. Get about 6000 miles a year on it. Last year we averaged about 85miles per ride on the thing. It's our third tandem. Miss M wasn't comfortable on aluminum, now she doesn't even use a suspension post.

We'll ride it off road, we don't let dirt stop us. Often ride on the C&O tow path to get into or out of town as part of a long ride. And there are lots of dirt roads around here. We are pretty comfortable on dirt with it. we've even done some single track. In Hawaii on a Santana tour we rode all over the Lanai Pineapple roads in a pouring rain got covered with thick red clay muc. You should have seen the looks we got when we met up with everyone else.

The bike is pretty much stock, we changed the seats and use Performance Forte Kevlar 700X26 tires. It is always a treat to ride.

Already done a couple of centuries on it this year.

Well we have a cannondale mt800(i think,it doesn't say and the owner we got it from wasn't sure) mtb. We have slicks to go on it for road.My fatherinlaw has a c'dale road tandem and just picked up a trek hybrid t100.We all just share!

We upgraded, last summer, from a Burley Samba Softride to a Calfee Tetra Tetra. WOW! 15 lb. weight savings even with bombproof wheels, stoker shock-post and Look ErgoStem.
Kathy and I trade off captaining duties to the Look stem facilitates easy adjustments.
The Carbon ride is AWESOME.
The only nitpics we have are the limitation on the tire width we can run (700x26mm max.) due to the low clearance AME carbon fork, and the fact that Calfee didn't put on the cable stops we requested for our Arai drag brake.
Despite that we LOVE the ride.

We have a Meridian Cascade, which we use on the road for centuries, club rides, and commuting. My wife Sam has disc problems in her neck, so the Softride beam is a big improvement over our previous tandem.

Wow! Some nice looking tandems in the group.

We ride a Trek T-200. Red and ready to go - as soon as the snow melts!

We ride a Cannondale RT3000. Wish we had the time and weather to put 6,000 miles a year on it! We've done several week long rides on it. It's been just recently where I have been able to find a seat for it that doesn't kill me. None of my long distance seats on my singles worked (I tried!). I had to go with a softer, wider saddle. Now I'm a happy sitter!

2001 Meridian Ascension

Absolutely awsome ride!

Hey Gus. Regarding seats...I know of what you speak! I settled on the Terry Butterfly (Womens competition seat) with exactly the qualities you mentioned. My experience is that the Captain doesn't have the freedom of movement (especially in the hips) as on a single bike. The wider and softer platform really helps.

Originally posted by Maury Cohen
Hey Gus. Regarding seats...I know of what you speak! I settled on the Terry Butterfly (Womens competition seat) with exactly the qualities you mentioned. My experience is that the Captain doesn't have the freedom of movement (especially in the hips) as on a single bike. The wider and softer platform really helps.

I agree. It seemed strange to me that I could do a century relatively easy on my singles with a minimum of seat pain. Putting the same seats on our tandem....I couldn't get 40 miles without severe saddle area pain! I found that I was in the saddle for longer periods and the saddle padding (which was fine on a single) wasn't thick enough for tandem use. I was bottoming out even with my Terry Fly. Wider seemed to help too. I wouldn't dream of using this seat I have on our tandem and using it on any of my singles. But it sure works on the tandem. I may some time in the future try a brooks.

re tandem

tandem is a thorn voyager enduro from st john st cycles

we chose to upgrade the wheels they are 48 spoke with shimano
xt tandem hubs with screw thread for drum brake on rear[not fitted yet] also sun rhyno rims [excellent]

wheels are 26inch in size.......
re brakes this is our third tandem [named doris 3] long story :)
we chose magura hydraulic brakes which give excellent braking
even with full load ie yak bob fitted
oh also 8 speed shimano xt chainset which is also great

attached is the photo which was taken overlooking tobermory
on the isle of mull....

the next morning we went by ferry to the ardumurchan peninsula
and cycled to fort william bout 50 miles i think :D

I forgot the picture. here we are doing a century 2 weeks ago near Manassas Virginia. It was about how it looks. Most of the ice on the roads melted by the afternoon and we were able to pick up the pace a little bit. In the morning we slipped and slid some but never dabbed.

Meridian Quest; got the mtb version because we thought we would spend majority of time on doubletrack and dirt roads. Considering a conversion to drop bars though, since 80% of miles have been on pavement. Changed out the knobbies to Ritchey 2.0 semi-slicks, but thinking seriously about the 1.5 slicks.

Hi
You will find us on
1985 Santana Sovereign (Columbus Santana Cro-moli, brazed)

Captained by Jay
Stokers include Linda, Tyler with Tandems Crank Shortner, Justin with Santana kidback.

1995 Trek-T-100
Captain by Jay or Linda, with Tyler or Justin, crank shortners only

For more picts and background
http://www.users.qwest.net/~lindahardcastle/thinktandem.html

I know I'm 4 months late on this thread, but what the heck... :)

Here's our ride, a 1992 Santana Noventa that we've logged about 30,000 miles on since May of 1992:

http://home.insightbb.com/~dtresenriter/Tandem090201.jpg

We ride a 2002 Burley Rumba. We put a couple thousand miles per year, but looking to increase it in the future.

Just picked up my first tandem today. A 1996 Gary Fisher Gemini (Thomson). New wheelset, cogs tires and shfters. Going to get slicks and do the road for a while to get theskills up. A lot different then being on my S-Works alone.

A green cannondale MT800 year 2000, with 26 inch wheels, campy chorus egeropower levers and rear derailler mixed with shimano parts (cassette and other things only becuse campy dosen't make certian things for tandems, I'm a serious campy fan though, so I only do shimano when I absoutly have to)..They guy at our LBS knows how to mix the two and make it work, and we've never had any problems....I really love the bike, but we're trying to get a disk brake on it and it may not work with our model, so we may be getting a new one in the future:D

Originally posted by caadman
A green cannondale MT800 year 2000, with 26 inch wheels, campy chorus egeropower levers and rear derailler mixed with shimano parts (cassette and other things only becuse campy dosen't make certian things for tandems, I'm a serious campy fan though, so I only do shimano when I absoutly have to)..They guy at our LBS knows how to mix the two and make it work, and we've never had any problems....I really love the bike, but we're trying to get a disk brake on it and it may not work with our model, so we may be getting a new one in the future:D

My Noventa 3 posts back is all Campagnolo. They used to make this group for tandems but have since quit. It's a bear to find parts for. I replaced the front deraileur this year with a Centaur racing triple and I replaced the original Campy (indexing) bar-cons with Ergo when It first came out.

Our main tandem, Rans Screamer built up for loaded touring, no really cool parts other then the front Sun hub for lighting. Just standard mountain bike parts, mostly XT and a Shimano XT tandem hub in the rear, A set of Arkel TT-82s on the rack and were set to go.

Off road Cannondale MT, again mostly XT Including the rear hub, after 5 years use its still working fine. I use a FR100 fork up front stoles sup seat post... but I lust after a FS ride

other tandems 5 or 6 older tandems, I lend to people who want to try a tandem.

My wife and I just got our first tandem last week and it is a recumbent bikeE E2. I know it is late in the year for something new like this but we have to start sometime. Last night was our maiden voyage and it was great ( just 10 miles in the dark).

Originally posted by baldbent rider
I know it is late in the year for something new like this but we have to start sometime.

Nahhhh, it's not too late. There's all this beautiful autumn weather to ride in. :) In fact, we just ordered a new Sovereign from Santana yesterday and I hope to get lots of miles in before the snow flies!

Originally posted by Trsnrtr


Nahhhh, it's not too late. There's all this beautiful autumn weather to ride in. :) In fact, we just ordered a new Sovereign from Santana yesterday and I hope to get lots of miles in before the snow flies!

And here it is:

http://home.insightbb.com/~dtresenriter/Sovereign.jpg

I just found a Tandem bike for free (it was abandoned). The bike is a (was made by) Arizona Bike Company (ABC). I'm guessing it was made in 85. The bike has a couple of registration stickers on it dating back to 86.
My wife and I have not ridden a Tandem before (we tried real hard to rent one while in the states, but just ran out of time), but think we will like it. I want to buy a Santana (with couplers so we can travel with it) but didn't want to spend a ton of money just to find out we didn't like it.
I have a friend who is rebuilding the bike while I'm deployed. We hope to ride it once I return home in Dec, I hope!

Does anyone know of a book “Learn to Tandem in a Weekend”? I have seen them for sailing and other sports, but haven’t found one for Tandeming yet.

Thanx,
David
:D

Try to find a copy of The Tandem Scoop, lots of good info for first time tandem couple. One thing you will need to keep in mind is that the stoker has put a lot of trust in the captain.

If you can, find someone who has ridden as a captain, and go out for a ride as a stoker

Bentbaggerlen

Thanx so much for the info.

The person that is rebuilding our bike is a very experienced rider and used to own a bike shop in S.C. He has ridden (and I think even raced a bit) tandems before so he said he would help us learn to ride. I like to read about the fundamentals before going out and doing something. This way I don’t pick up bad habits before I start…. Besides, I have a few extra months of spare time; I'm deployed to the desert...nothing but sand around…
I'll try looking around for a copy of "The Tandem Scoop".

Thanx again,
David

Well, we are not on a tandem yet. We just made the decision to go 'double-up' after long discussions. We are looking for our first tandem now. My wife and I just got into biking two years ago and have logged many 1000's of miles in that short time. We enjoy biking immensely, and believe that tandeming will take our enjoyment to a new level. Dave & Jodee

The Mrs and I ride a KHS Tandemania Sport which is completely stock except for semi-slicks instead of knobbies. May change the stoker stem to a longer one for a more erect position and so the hands won't go numb after half hour of riding.
I will add a photo soon.

Dave & Jodee,

Good to hear from you. Spokane A? I used to live there.
My Wife and I used to live on Fairchild Air Force Base. We had a good two years there. I really miss the camping in Washington.
Do you like garlic? There is a VERY good restaurant in Post Falls. The name of the place is the "White House Grill". It is located on State st. When you get off the freeway (heading into Idaho), take the State st. exit. Then head North (left). The White house Grill in on you right hand side (about 100 feet from the freeway).

David Poulin

David: Thanks for your referral to the White House restaurant. Yes, I do LOVE garlic, so the next time in Post Falls we will try it.
Where in Italy are you? I used to live in Bologna in the late '70s. Not in the service, just an interested tourist. Dave & Jodee

We have a Co-Motion Speedster (steel is real, baby) that we're very, very happy with. Ultegra STI's and derailleurs with RaceFace cranks. We've upgraded the saddles to Selle Italia gel flow's from the ones that came on it. The stock wheels are Velocity's Dyad rims on HuGi 40 spoke hubs. At this typing I'm having a set of Velocity Deep V 36h on HuGi's being built. It has a Kestrel carbon fiber h-bar up front for the Captain. CatEye EnduroII computers for both captain and Stoker (would like to go with Flightdeck sooner or later). Welgo clippless pedals (inexpensive but, have no complaints with them at all).

Dave & Jodee,

When you go to the White House Grill you will have to tell me how you like it. We miss it!
We live about an hour north of Venice. We love Italy. It is a great place to hang out. There is very little info (non at all) on Tandem riding there. In my three years living there we have only seen 4 Tandem teams. We are looking forward to trying our Tandem soon. It is a dinosaur, but the price was right, free! If we like it we will upgrade, maybe to a Santana with couplers.
It would be nice to have had a Tandem in Spokane and ride along the Centennial Trail, but we have many nice places in Italy to ride. My only fear are the FAST DRIVING Italians, so I think most of out travels will be off the beaten path.

Type with ya later,
David

:fun:

I AM RIDING A DAWES TANDEM (UK BRAND) AND DO LEAVE IN GENEVA SWITZERLAND.

MY NEXT BUY MIGHT BE A SANTANA ONE

:p

NOT SURE IF I REPLY TO THE RIGHT ADD

SO

I DO RIDE A DAWES TANDEM (UK BRAND)

AND MIGHT BUY A SANTANA ONE NEXT TIME

After looking for a tandem about 10 years and giving up, we found our perfect tandem.

My husband and I both weigh over 200 pounds and stability was a big factor.

The gentleman at our local bike shop offered to let us try a KHS tandemania that they had just gotten in, and it seemed to be perfect. We didn't even have to do the post sale check up after and adjustment to the derailrer.After three years, it still is, but we are going to upgrade as we want to do more advanced touring.

Our bike is easy to maintain, and handle. We've had one flat tire in the three years.

In looking for the new tandem, it will be a road bike vs. the hybird we have now. We are looking for speed as well as stability.

Beware a tandem is a true test of a marriage, although we had been riding together 26 years, the tandem really demonstrated the difference in our riding styles. The tandem was a big compromise for us in riding. At times we were barely speaking when we finished riding. Now we have some of our best discussion while riding.

Diane

This must be the longest lasting post in the forum, so I might as well keep it going...

We sure got a lot of attention riding this Koga Miyata "TwinTraveller" through New Zealand, so I guess you may all find it interesting enough...:D

That is probably the coolest-looking tandem I've ever seen!

Wild! I take it the TwinTraveller also works well for captains and stokers of very different heights.

My husband and I have a red 1985 Santana Arriva. We've owned it for about 7 years, going on 8 ... It's been a good ride for us. We're thinking about upgrading to a new tandem, maybe next year. Test rode a Calfee -- nice! A lot easier on my back than some alumninum tandems I've test-ridden.

Oh, and we have a Vision R82. I just couldn't get into the recumbent thing, though :). I prefer the upright.

Hi

We have a Kinesis framed tandem with Puegeout decals. Our groupset is Shimano Tiagra with CPI cranks. The rear is a triple with a nine speed cluster on the back. The rims are DRC with Mount Cartridge hubs and Swiss DT spokes. The saddles are Selle Italia. 00x28c tyres.Will post a picture soon.

Keep those wheels spinning!!!!!

Big H

Sweet ride, it's quite a looker.

http://www.spgym.com/images/2onbike.jpg

We ride a Santana Sovereign, and love it!

Sorry....didn't mean to make the picture so big! my bad

My wife and I have been tandeming since 1983. We started off with a cheap mixte tandem, Miraige (a Swiss bike). That lasted for nine years. We moved up to a Burley Duet and that lasted about ten years (great bike) and we sold it and for the last year we've been riding a ATP Doublevision Recumbent tandem. We really like it and we are just as fast if not faster (up hills, down and flatland) as we were on our Burley. You can find some pictures on our family album under "My Bikes" at:

http://community.webshots.com/user/mtessmer

Wow Mark-

Those are some REALLY cool pictures!! Riding in the snow? Thats dedication. Again, very cool.

Thanks, southportgym, it's incorporated into my lifestyle, I'd miss it if I didn't have it.

We just got started tandeming after both being roadies for many years. We love riding our new Co-Motion Speedster co-pilot. Hey, better late than never.

Steve and Debi

Hi

We ride a Peugeot tandem. It is a 7005 aluminium Kinesis frame with a crome moly fork. We use DRC 40 hole rims with Mount sealed bearing hubs and DT Swiss spokes. We have a 9 speed Tiagra groupset with CPI crankset with three chainblades. We have a Ciclo aheadset headset with tapered bearings. We have Selle Italia seats and the bike weighs 16,5 kg without our saddle bags that carry our racing spares. I will post a photo as soon as I bring the Digital home again.

Keep those wheels spinning!!!!

Big H

Nice bike Steve and Debi! We've had ours since Aug. of '02 and have enjoyed every mile. We're still under 2,000 miles as a tandem team so compared to some we are still newbies.

Originally posted by TwinTraveller
This must be the longest lasting post in the forum, so I might as well keep it going...

We sure got a lot of attention riding this Koga Miyata "TwinTraveller" through New Zealand, so I guess you may all find it interesting enough...:D

That is the nicest tandem I have ever seen :) Its magnificent.

twintraveller.. that tandem is beautiful!