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Trivial Tandem Stats for '04

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Trivial Tandem Stats for '04

Old 02-07-04, 06:34 PM
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Trivial Tandem Stats for '04

Oh no, not another one?

Yup. I'm afraid so. Acting on a few suggestions received after the Tandem Ownership Survey went out, I've put together an unprecedented 2nd winter survey to help fill the void left by the less than inviting weather that continues to keep us off our tandems by giving you an outlet for tandem-related Web content.

Unlike the last one that looked at how many, what types, and what brands of tandems y'all own and ride (Co-Motion claimed top honors by an impressive margin on that one by the way), this new survey is for the
tandem-geeks out there who love to compare stats with other tandem teams to see how they stack-up in terms of experience, riding habits, physical characteristics, and involvement in tandem activities. The survey was launched about an hour ago so the results are a bit sparse at the moment. Please note, the server will only register one survey submittal per computer.

Survey web address:
https://www.opinionpower.com/Surveys/149012009.html

Graphed Results web address:
https://www.opinionpower.com/results.cgi?id=149012009

Text Results web address:
https://www.opinionpower.com/textResu...i?id=149012009

On the bright side, the results on this survey will not need to be manually tabulated. What you see at the results page will be the only scoring that will occur. The write-in comments are not being moderated so bear in mind, what you write will be accessible to anyone who takes the survey. If you'd like to share a private comment that may not be something you'd like to share with the world please send me an Email with those comments.

To see how the results stack up over time you can find links to the results pages at this URL:
https://home.att.net/~thetandemlink/S...sults_04B.html

NOTE: As before with previous surveys, this data is not being collected for commercial purposes.

P.S. The results from the first '04 survey on tandem ownership are still available at this URL:
https://home.att.net/~thetandemlink/S...esults_04.html
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Old 02-08-04, 02:59 PM
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I'm surprised that Co-Motion was the most frequently mentioned brand - especially by a big margin. I have nothing against Co-Motion but I would have thought that Santana, Burley and Cannondale would have had more respondents.
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Old 02-08-04, 04:29 PM
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Originally Posted by Retro Grouch
I'm surprised that Co-Motion was the most frequently mentioned brand - especially by a big margin. I have nothing against Co-Motion but I would have thought that Santana, Burley and Cannondale would have had more respondents.
Santana "should" have come out on top based solely on total unit sold over time and annual production. Co-Motion has historically produced fewer tandems per year as Santana but has been steadily closing the gap each year. I'm not sure where Burley and Cannondale's numbers are these days but, historically, I would have to believe they've sold more units in total and per year.

Therefore, I believe the data is skewed due to the medium, i.e., it's an Internet-based poll whose respondents are predisposed to participate in tandem cycling related discussion forums. Therefore, all it really can be used to convey is that Co-Motion "appears" to be the most popular brand of tandem among tandem owners who have access to computers connected to the Internet that are members of tandem discussion groups AND who are predisposed to participate in a voluntary on-line survey. With all of those caveats, it's pretty hard to draw any broad conclusions that don't tie back to the computer-user demographic. Of course, this could also be a leading indicator of a change in buyer habits, i.e., perhaps there has been a shift in brand appeal among the super-enthusiasts?

Time will tell. Obviously, a poll of say Tandem Club of America's membership would yield a different picture of brand ownership. Thus, the survey results are what they are; interesting material for futher discussion.
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Old 02-10-04, 04:11 PM
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Santana didn't appear as much because if you own a Santana you are riding it and not sitting in front of the computer.
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Old 02-10-04, 05:27 PM
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Always a possibility....

However, just for kicks I did a quick check of tandem brands registered to attend two of the '04 rallies that post registrant data on the Web. The results are:

01 = Bilenky
01 = Borthwick
01 = Dawes
01 = Ibis
01 = KHS
01 = Osell
01 = Raleigh
01 = Vision Recumbent
02 = Calfee
02 = Litespeed
02 = Rans Recumbent
02 = Rodriguez
03 = Trek
04 = Bushnell
04 = Meridian
05 = Erickson
06 = Burley
11 = Cannondale
21 = Santana
23 = Co-Motion

Admittedly, there are folks who are attending both rallies but ridership is ridership. Thus, while still inconclusive, it's another data point. By the way, we don't ride a Co-Motion or a Santana and don't have a bias either way.

Again, these are both closely bounded data populations which give little value to the results beyond being the basis for intriguing discussions like this one....
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Old 02-10-04, 08:52 PM
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Hold the pressess... I've just checked the stats from the Southern Tandem Rally held last fall in Tallahassee, FL, and apparently the closer you get to South Florida the more Santana owners you encounter....

I didn't tally all of the brands, but the top five are:

06 = Trek
08 = Burley
10 = Cannondale
24 = Co-Motion
39 = Santana

Hmmm. Interesting.... The plot thickens.

I guess the only thing that I would note as truly being interesting is that Co-Motion didn't start building tandems until 1988; about 10 years after Santana Cycles was founded. To this day I still don't believe that Co-Motion has matched Santana's annual output; however, they continue to increase unit sales and production each year and could be churning out close to 1/2 has many tandems per year by now. However, given Santana's years in the biz., it still has a substantial cumulative ownership base that is somewhere around 25,000 tandems** (Note: This number is pretty soft. Santana has been using variations on how many "enthusiasts" they've put on tandems interchangably with other "hints" about total units sold over the year such that you'll see the number 50,000 appearing in some places). Regardless, Co-Motion more so than the presumed #2 (Burley) and #3 (C'dale) builders behind Santana, seems to attract a lot of what I'll call "enthusiast riders" which is what probably accounts for their higher representation with the Internet crowd and often times a very respectable showing in contrast to the other builders who've been in the game longer and who have sold more total units. Burley and Cannondale probably don't make a showing on the Internet and at rallies because they are more value oriented and, at least in my view, are more likely to have been purchased for purely recreational / family or brand-loyal customers (C'dale) who are less likely to be tandem-enthusiasts, per se. Mind you, Cannondale makes one of the better racing tandems, but that's not always what the average "enthusiast" is looking for.

Anyway, I could ramble on thinking out loud for a while. The point of these surveys is to give folks a chance to see what their peers -- that would be other folks who are hanging out on the Internet -- ride, how much they ride, and how they otherwise stack-up against one another.

The hope is that everyone will see that this very narrow, niche area of cycling is still made up of a very wide and diverse group where almost everyone can match up with folks who have similar riding interests and abilities. Far too often I see where a team will show up to one group ride and never come back because they felt they didn't fit in. Unfortunately, if they showed up a second time they would have run into another team who, like them, didn't feel they fit in either. Now, if the first team had made a repeat showing then guess what, they would have had another team to ride with.

Well, enough of all this.... Time to read my Dessauer's newsletter.
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Old 02-11-04, 10:57 AM
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Very interseting as always
Thanks Mark
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Old 02-11-04, 10:58 AM
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Very interesting as always
Thanks Mark
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