About Us...
01-29-02, 09:13 AM
#1
hors category
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 7,231
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 8 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 5 Times
in
5 Posts
A fellow Atlanta list member wrote to introduce himself and suggested we pass a note to the list with a little bit of information regarding our tandem interests.
We are what I'd call advanced recreational tandemists in our mid-40s who began riding tandem bikes back in '96. I have been an avid cycling enthusiast for well over 20 years and Debbie was re-introduced to cycling with the purchase of our first tandem in 1996. We road ride with 3 - 5 other couples at least once a week on Sundays here in the Atlanta metro area, rides of between 30 and 60 miles at a brisk pace with either a lunch stop near or at the end of the ride are the norm. Our annual tandem mileage ranges from 3,500 to 4,000 mi (not as much as we'd like). Off-road riding is primarily used to keep us from getting into ruts (no pun intended) with the road tandem riding. In other words, we do it for the pure joy and fun of it. We also enjoy tandem rallies and have attended quite a few Southern Tandem Rallies, one Eastern Tandem Rally, all three of the Georgia Tandem Rallies, the Alabama Tandem Weekend, several off-road tandem get togethers, and the '98 Santana Asheville Rally. Once we finally get our travel tandem we'll be heading further from home -- a California Coastal tour with PennywiseCycleTours in September is on the calendar as our first travel event. We also hook up with our "tandem friends" to attend many of the major local metric and full century fund-raising rides in the Southeast as well as the occasional Southern Bicycle League "Jewell" event (e.g., TraLaLa, Helen, North Florida).
We presently own four tandems, although one may have just been sold. They include:
Two road tandems -- A '98 Erickson Signature and a soon to be delivered '02 Erickson Custom S&S travel tandem.
Two off-road tandems - A '00 Ventana El Conquistador de Montanas full suspension tandem (possibly sold last night on ebay) fitted with Hope discs, Stratos 4.5" triple crown fork, and other nice bits and pieces. The second is an '02 Ventana which is very similar to the '00, but with newer bits and pieces. It is almost complete... waiting for the new 20mm bolt-on Chris King hubs to enter distribution.
Previous tandems have included a Santana Arriva and a Cannondale MT3000.
I can be a bit obsessive with my interest in tandems and tandem cycling. I presently host a tandem information Web site called https://www.TheTandemLink.com that may be of interest to members of the group. It's grown to be too large to describe so I won't try -- just think of it as a source for links to 90% of everything you wanted to know about tandems and tandeming. I also own and moderate a Web based discussion forum for off-road tandem enthusiasts called the "Forum For Off-Road Tandem Enthusiats" (aka, Double Forte) that has about 200 members who are very much into playing in the dirt on two-fers. You can find out more about this forum at our general information Web site: https://home.att.net/~double_forte. In fact, the amount of interest we've found sparked one of the members to launch an off-road tandem speciality dealership: MTBTandems.com. I threw together a Web site for him that may be of interest to anyone who is already involved in or thinking about getting into off-road tandems: https://www.mtbtandems.com
I signed on to this list to get a flavor for the group's interests as my primary tandem forum -- Tandem@Hobbes -- is getting to be a bit too noisy rehashing old threads. So, you'll excuse me if a lurk a bit here. I'll stick in my two cents when I have something that may be useful.
We are what I'd call advanced recreational tandemists in our mid-40s who began riding tandem bikes back in '96. I have been an avid cycling enthusiast for well over 20 years and Debbie was re-introduced to cycling with the purchase of our first tandem in 1996. We road ride with 3 - 5 other couples at least once a week on Sundays here in the Atlanta metro area, rides of between 30 and 60 miles at a brisk pace with either a lunch stop near or at the end of the ride are the norm. Our annual tandem mileage ranges from 3,500 to 4,000 mi (not as much as we'd like). Off-road riding is primarily used to keep us from getting into ruts (no pun intended) with the road tandem riding. In other words, we do it for the pure joy and fun of it. We also enjoy tandem rallies and have attended quite a few Southern Tandem Rallies, one Eastern Tandem Rally, all three of the Georgia Tandem Rallies, the Alabama Tandem Weekend, several off-road tandem get togethers, and the '98 Santana Asheville Rally. Once we finally get our travel tandem we'll be heading further from home -- a California Coastal tour with PennywiseCycleTours in September is on the calendar as our first travel event. We also hook up with our "tandem friends" to attend many of the major local metric and full century fund-raising rides in the Southeast as well as the occasional Southern Bicycle League "Jewell" event (e.g., TraLaLa, Helen, North Florida).
We presently own four tandems, although one may have just been sold. They include:
Two road tandems -- A '98 Erickson Signature and a soon to be delivered '02 Erickson Custom S&S travel tandem.
Two off-road tandems - A '00 Ventana El Conquistador de Montanas full suspension tandem (possibly sold last night on ebay) fitted with Hope discs, Stratos 4.5" triple crown fork, and other nice bits and pieces. The second is an '02 Ventana which is very similar to the '00, but with newer bits and pieces. It is almost complete... waiting for the new 20mm bolt-on Chris King hubs to enter distribution.
Previous tandems have included a Santana Arriva and a Cannondale MT3000.
I can be a bit obsessive with my interest in tandems and tandem cycling. I presently host a tandem information Web site called https://www.TheTandemLink.com that may be of interest to members of the group. It's grown to be too large to describe so I won't try -- just think of it as a source for links to 90% of everything you wanted to know about tandems and tandeming. I also own and moderate a Web based discussion forum for off-road tandem enthusiasts called the "Forum For Off-Road Tandem Enthusiats" (aka, Double Forte) that has about 200 members who are very much into playing in the dirt on two-fers. You can find out more about this forum at our general information Web site: https://home.att.net/~double_forte. In fact, the amount of interest we've found sparked one of the members to launch an off-road tandem speciality dealership: MTBTandems.com. I threw together a Web site for him that may be of interest to anyone who is already involved in or thinking about getting into off-road tandems: https://www.mtbtandems.com
I signed on to this list to get a flavor for the group's interests as my primary tandem forum -- Tandem@Hobbes -- is getting to be a bit too noisy rehashing old threads. So, you'll excuse me if a lurk a bit here. I'll stick in my two cents when I have something that may be useful.
Last edited by TandemGeek; 01-30-05 at 08:38 PM.
01-29-02, 09:27 AM
#2
Donating member
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Faversham, Kent, UK
Posts: 1,852
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Welcome to the forums, I've yet to try a tandem myself, but hope to persuade the wife one day.
Richard
Richard
__________________
Currently riding an MTB with a split personality - commuting, touring, riding for the sake of riding, on or off road :)
Currently riding an MTB with a split personality - commuting, touring, riding for the sake of riding, on or off road :)
01-29-02, 09:56 PM
#3
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Green Bay, WI
Posts: 488
Bikes: Kona Dr Dew, Lemond Le Alp, Mongoss NX-7, Trek T200 Tandem
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Welcome to Bike Forums. Its good to have another tandem lover here to pep up the tandem forum. I've always enjoyed your posts over on Tandem@Hobbs. You're one of the half dozen posters that I acutally read. The rest of it is repeats, bickering or endless discussions of the smallest nuances. Welcome aboard, I'm looking forward to reading your posts here.
01-29-02, 11:53 PM
#5
Sophomoric Member
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Burlingame, California USA
Posts: 272
Bikes: Trek 5000, Novara Randonee, Meridian Cascade
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Originally posted by livngood
Once we finally get our travel tandem we'll be heading further from home -- a California Coastal tour with PennywiseCycleTours in September is on the calendar as our first travel event.
Once we finally get our travel tandem we'll be heading further from home -- a California Coastal tour with PennywiseCycleTours in September is on the calendar as our first travel event.
