Tandem Cycling - Are tandem sales increasing?

I'm curious if sales of tandems have increased in recent years. It seems to me they're more and more common on the road, in events, used for tours, etc.

Anyone know?

Andy

I've searched Bicycle Retailer (http://www.bicycleretailer.com/search_result.html), using the the term tandem, and found nothing.

I've seen pie charts of bicycle segments in that publication, and tandems don't even get a sliver.

I'm curious if sales of tandems have increased in recent years. It seems to me they're more and more common on the road, in events, used for tours, etc.

Anyone know?

Andy

Could it be that you've gotten a tandem recently? Do you ever notice that when you buy a new car you always "your car" much more often after you purchase yours? I know we've noticed tandems more since we've purchased ours, rather than an oddity now there's a kinship.

If there are more tandems (I have no data) I'd could be that aging baby boomers are looking for less intense fitness options that can be done together, just a thought.

I'm seeing more of them. But doubling the amount on the road would hardly be meaningful.

Speaking only to the premium / enthusiast market.... and based on what I've heard over the past year or so:

Some builders still have strong backlog, others are working to move inventory. Dealers located in the more economically stressed locations are impacted differently from dealers located in less economically stressed locations, so the market trends are definitely regional and non-linear.

However, stepping back and looking at the macro level, true to big-number theory the market seems to be flat with first-time buyers being down a bit but off-set by sales to existing owners upgrading to higher-end models with couplers or the more exotic frames and/or racing components.

Take it for what it's worth.

...the market seems to be flat with first-time buyers being down a bit but off-set by sales to existing owners upgrading to higher-end models with couplers or the more exotic frames and/or racing components.

We got to figure that the market overall for high dollar bicycles is down, tandems included. I think the thing to know is whether tandems are gaining market share in the high end cycling segment relative to other types of bicycles.

We see about the same number of tandems on the road. My observation is that the tandem market is very small relative to mainstream cycling and very specialized. It is my understanding the the main manufacturers of tandems are busy with backlogs. I believe the number of tandems sold yearly are in the 10s of thousands versus millions. I have no idea about the lower end lines marketed via the internet or big box retailers. Tandems are more rare in Europe and very limited in other parts of the world. In my trips to Europe either on business or cycling, I have not seen any tandems but lots of bicycles.

It will be interesting to see if specialty tandem retailers, such as Crank 2, become a viable long term enterprise. Time will tell if there is sufficient volume/margin on tandem sales to pay the overhead and carrying costs.

I believe the number of tandems sold yearly are in the 10s of thousands...

Try about 5,000 - 6,000 all told for brands that would include Co-Motion, Santana, Trek, Cannondale and the smaller builders like Bilenky, Rodriguez.

Try about 5,000 - 6,000 all told for brands that would include Co-Motion, Santana, Trek, Cannondale and the smaller builders like Bilenky, Rodriguez.

Thanks for the correction.

I have noticed more tandems also. But most of them are older and recycled. As teams upgrade to newer models the older ones get passed down to new teams.

Thanks for the correction.

... and that number may actually be a bit high too. It's hard to know if the 1,400 unit per year hole left by Burley's departure was ever filled-in and given that Trek dropped it's T1000/T2000 model last year... 3,500 might even be closer to the real number.

I've been doing some marketing for Paketa, and I have noticed a huge increase in sales of the V2 Racing Tandem (http://paketabike.com/index.cfm?page=paketa_v2_tandem). It is by far Paketa's most popular product. Seems like a lot of people are going tandem, and even racing. So I don't know if that's congruent with the rest of the industry, but locally I have seen an increase.

Tandem bike sales are inherently disadvantaged in that they need the mutual consent of two riders willing to ride together, whereas a single bike needs only one cyclist who will also likely buy more than one bike. Also they are larger, more complex and more difficult to ship and display.

I think that if they simply had more tandems on the display floor of big box stores (e.g. Costco, Target, Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, etc...), more families and couples would walk by and seriously consider getting one to start on. A subsequent percentage of these might eventually wind up leaving them unused in the garage, but another perhaps smaller percentage would eventually move on to buying higher end bikes as they get more involved depending upon their economic resources.

The low end tandem buyer is in a completely different market segment from the tandem enthusiast and therefore wouldn't cannibalize high end tandem sales, but conversely could (eventually) provide more customers for high-end tandems as they increase the tandem riding community.


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I've been doing some marketing for Paketa, and I have noticed a huge increase in sales of the V2 Racing Tandem (http://paketabike.com/index.cfm?page=paketa_v2_tandem). It is by far Paketa's most popular product.

What's huge? Going from 12/year to 24? 24/year to 48? Just curious.

Yeah, like 20 on up to 30 or 40. Large percentage though.

Yeah, like 20 on up to 30 or 40. Large percentage though.


That would be 50% - 100%. :D


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