[rymodee]

i'm trying so hard to either get a sociable tandem of some sort like bike buddy, or building a granny bike from pieces off of the internet, or trying REALLY hard to get an inexpensive rhoades car, but i am real hesitant about the granny and everything else is real expensive. my problem is that my girlfriend who is just as good a rider as me, has night blindness. i figure this way she can still pedal and not forfeit either hers or my stability on a nice night, and lets not even mention a drunken wobbly evening where she scares the schitt out of me!! oh well, any thoughts? argh!

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[zonatandem]

The bikes you mention are all x-tra wide. And you'd ride something like that at night? Not even on our list of things to do!
Have enough hassless with cars/trucks on a tandem/single in daytime without taking more of 'their right to their road!'
But that's only our opinion.

[rymodee]

of course i'd be fully equipped with lights and i live in a fairly dinky town with well lit back streets, and, yes i would ride something like that at night. that's whose opinion? ours is that we own bikes, not cars.

[zonatandem]

Rymodee:

That is the opinion of someone who has been riding 'in tandem' since 1975 in 30-some states (including Florida) and Canada.
We own one car and have pedaled on tandems over 200,000 miles and still a-going strong. Yes, we've survived three bad hits by cars/truck (all in broad daylight) in that time span; in each instance the drivers were ticketed and each time we survived to ride some more.
We've ridden in daytime and nighttime (as you state: with proper lights).
While we consider ourselves 'experienced' we do not call ourselves 'experts.' There is always more room to learn
You elicited other folks' thoughts? Those are ours.
Good luck in whatever you do.

[Elkhound]

If you want a plan for a do-it-yourself sociable, try going to http://atomiczombie.com

Or: http://www.justtwobikes.com/models_dual.html

Or: http://www.blackbirdbikes.com/

Or: http://www.trailmate.com/productDoubleSpecial.cfm

[NewbieIATandem]

Just a little curious as to why you are looking for something other than a standard tandem. Your stoker's night blindness should not prevent you from using a standard tandem and they are much easier to find.