Road or Mountain tandem...plz help us out!
 

Should we go for a 700c road tandem and put bigger/more aggressive tires on it, or should we get a 26" wheeled mountain tandem, and put drop bars and small/less aggressive tires on it?

We are about 380-400# combined weight, and plan on riding a mix of paved and dirt riding. No singletrack, mainly forest service roads, 2-tracks, etc. No racing, will be riding quite a few centuries and tours...maybe even self-contained tours.

Thanks!
Andy and Vickie

If dirt riding is planned, this may lead to a certain amount of more adventurous offroad. I would not like to ride offroad with drops. On top of that service roads and even comparatively smooth 2 track can be a bit lumpy. 26" wheels are my choice for any thing less smooth than tarmac, but suggest a semislick tyre. These can be quite narrow nowadays and I have seen them in 1.75. I ride a full mountain bike and all I do for road rides is change to 1.4 slicks, from the 2.1 knobblies.

You might consider a second set of handlebars, brake levers and shifters. Using cable disconnects (as on S&S coupled tandems), it wouldn't be terribly unreasonable to swap them out. Still probably a bit fussy, but this may be a way to have your cake and eat it, too.

Swapping bars for the stoker is a much simpler task, of course.

-Greg

My vote is with the 26" wheels. You will give up little in the way of road performance and gain a ton of off-road performance.

If you are primary planning to ride non-pavement, we'd vote for the 26 inchers. Two sets of tires, or if you have $$ to burn, two sets of wheels. Knobbies for dirt, slix for road.

We have 26" wheels (flat bars, not drops) and use different tyres depending on our riding. 1.5 slicks for faster rides (some people use 1.3s), 1.75 semi-slicks for most riding (will deal with pavement and gravel okay) and knobblies for off-road.

I'd only really consider 700C is I had any intention of racing.

I think I know why you are in this dilemma. Your area has some really great road rides and some excellent off road trails.

Some of the arguements made on the following web site are quite compelling to me with my vote for the 26" wheels.

Thorn cycles

Doc

Are you an ex-Yooper? :)

Neither of the options you list unless you're already a cyclocross afficianado. Otherwise, 26", flat bars with bar ends like Profile's Briefs will probably work just fine for what you're describing so long as you're not predisposed to ride in the drops.