Ekdog

I'm considering the purchase of a folding tandem for riding around town and touring with my wife. I could either buy one here in Europe or take advantage of a trip I'm planning to take to the west coast of the United States next year. I was wondering if some of you might give me some advice about what's available and, if you own one, how you like it.

Thanks for your help.

steve53mg

Since you are going to be on the west coast, I would recommend getting in touch with the folks at Santana and talking to them about their S&S coupled bikes, as well as the shipping containers for them. Their site is: www.santanatandem.com. I ride a non-coupled Santana and like it very much. Even though the bike is 17 years old, the folks at the factory have been very supportive. There are several other tandem builders in the states that use the S&S system. If you go on their website: sandsmachine.com. They can provide you with the contact information for these builders.

tredlodz

Apart from some weird stuff I've seen on ebay, the only real folder out there that I know of is the Bike Friday Twosday - the seatmasts fold quickly for public transport etc. Much more disassembly will be needed for airtravel, or maybe your car. Bike Friday also make other models that disassemble for travel, but don't strictly fold. The Bike Fridays work fine, but there are definitely some compromises because of the small wheels and compact frame - spare tires/tubes can be a big issue on tour. Best thing is that you can turn up at an airport with your bike in two regular cases and leave towing the cases as a trailer with all your other luggage.

Most other travel tandems use S & S couplers. These don't strictly fold, but they do come apart and fit in a couple of 26X26X10" cases that will travel by air without excessive charges. Apart from the slight incrase in weight, they ride just like a regular tandem. But you will pay as much for the couplers as you will for an entry level bike ~$2000-3000. Lots of builders will build you a bike with these.

One thing to remember is that you will spend at least an hour breaking down/ re-building your bike at each end of the trip (unless you are much better at it than I am). This is also true for Bike Fridays. If you just want to haul a normal tandem on your car, you can use a back rack and take the wheels off in 2 minutes. I suspect a lot of fancy couplers get used a lot less than expected, but they do make the bike very versatile and add to resale value.

merlinextraligh

We had Bike Friday Tandem Traveler XL. It was a nice bike. Very good for use with growing kids. and handy to travel with. Also it held it's value extremely well (we sold it for more than we paid for it new).

However, with an adult stoker on the back, it was a bit flexible.

I would therefore tend to favor a full sized tandem with S&S couplers for a performance oriented tandem.

Take a look at Co-motion in Eugene Oregon. www.co-motion.com

WebsterBikeMan

An advantage of S+S couplers if done right is that you can break the bike in half by undoing only half the couplers and the corresponding cables. The chains, etc stay on. Then you can get the two halves *into* the back of the car, for many definitions of "the car". If you do wind up going with couplers, be sure that the front couplers are in front of the captain's seat post.

Ekdog

Thanks to all for the helpful comments. I'm car free, so I want something we could break down quickly for travelling on trains and buses. The Bike Friday Twosday looks like it might be up my alley.

zonatandem

There is a German company (Bernd?) that builds a folding tandem similar to the Friday.

Ekdog

I Googled "Bernd tandems" and couldn't find anything.

ville

Bernds

Aiolos

johntrev

Bernds Bike is at https://www.bernds.de/home-en.html; their tandem looks a lot like the Bike Friday models.

I've had a Bike Friday Twosday tandem for about 4 years that I ride with my now 11 year old son. I like the Friday for the flexibility the fold offers - traveling with it in 2 suitcases, or folding it up to go in the back of the car. The smaller wheels don't feel like a compromise, and the frame feels plenty stiff, although with my son under 75 pounds and me at 165, we don't stress it like heavier riders would.

This past summer we took a 225 mile, 6 day trip along the Northern California coast: https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?...c_id=7203&v=Ci. With the tandem in the trunk of our rental car, we drove 350 miles one way to the start of the ride; I don't know how we could have gotten a full size tandem to the ride start.

TandemGeek

There's always the Koga Miyata Twinn Traveller. Probably OK for a city bike that quickly folds to go on public transit and for relatively flat terrain and rugged roads, but clearly not an inexpensive bike to check as luggage on a flight these days. Very heavy...

https://www.koga.com/twintraveller/us/imagebank.asp

The Bike Friday Tandem Two'sDay mentioned early on in this thread is probably the better choice for a true 'folding' tandem: https://community.bikefriday.com/twosday

The Aiolos DuoLite mentioned by ville is interesting as well: https://www.aiolos.de/DUOLITE.650.0.html

Ekdog

Thanks. Checked out your CGOM page. Looks like you and the kids had a great time.

2frmMI

Do you have some reasoning for this comment? As a very happy owner of a tandem coupled behind the captain's seatpost, I might argue the opposite. Seems like splitting in front of the seapost leaves the tubes less supported, and more subject to stressess/damage. Your argument can't be for packing either, as ours fits fine in the standard S&S cases. By splitting behind the Capt and in front of the Stoker, I get two main chunks of bike and the 3 connecting pieces of tubing. That seems easier to pack than having 3 big chunks. Anyway, I don't get the assertion that in front of the captain's seatpost is better. Please explain.

WebsterBikeMan

That's easy. For packing, there's no version that would be 'easy' for a bike my size. The fork just barely fits on the diagonal. Where we win is when we aren't putting it in cases, but in the back of the car. Three S&S couplers, three cable splitters, and it's apart. Timing chain stays on. Three couplers, three cable splitters, and it's back together. Pedals are still in the same phase they were before, with no fiddling. As for strength, those joints, assuming they're properly tightened, are probably the strongest part of the frame.

cornucopia72

++1

Bent In El Paso

+++1

2frmMI

I didn't mean to imply that the _joints_ weren't strong, rather, that when packed in the case the unsupported tubes coming off the head tube, for example, are more vulnerable, acting like lever-arms. We're talking about the same S&S coupled joints, so I have no issues with joint strength.

OK, you may win with your size and putting in the back of a car, but those weren't the OP's criteria and your answer seems too absolute given the question. That is all I was trying to point out. The original implies (my interpretation) longer distance, so probably more likely packed, and makes no mention of size.

WebsterBikeMan

My point is that if you have the couplers you don't need a rack when you are putting only two people and a moderate amount of luggage in *most* cars. And if you want to take advantage of that, it is very handy to be able to do it without taking off the timing chain. In 18 months we've not flown with the bike, but we've "broken it in half" at least a dozen times.

The OP wasn't at all clear about the meaning of "touring" - which means many things to many people.

zonatandem

Montague used to build a true folding tandem with 26"wheels.
Discontinued now, but may still occasionally be available as used.
Also Worksman Cycles builds a rather heavy/clunky one.

2frmMI

Amazing how dramatically different the perspective is based on the assumptions!!! I wasn't thinking at ALL about racks, cars, trunks, etc. My bad. I tend to think of coupled tandems for capital T Travel, as in: fly. I don't need to consider what happens on putting a coupled tandem in a car, since I don't do that except to put the whole, intact, tandem in a minivan. Just seems a useful reminder that we should always qualify our opinions according to the assumptions. "Since my reason for owning a coupled tandem is so that I can put it in my car for local/near travel, I consider intact timing chain a major factor, therefor I recommend having the couplers _forward of_ the captains seat tube". That gives the community (BF:tandems) the info to interpret the expert wisdom.

WebsterBikeMan

That was our main reason for getting the couplers, although not enough to decide it for us (the debate rages on as to how much you'd have to fly to pay for that upgrade). It was only after we started using it, did we realize what a difference it makes. Our only car is a Prius, now that we've sold the Honda Insight. Buying a minivan or SUV in order to be able to transport the tandem ups the total cost of ownership considerably.

All of that said, the OP is in Europe, where small cars are the norm, SUVs and minivans the exception. Which is why I kept saying "most cars". I don't know that I could get our bike in the very popular Smart Car without breaking it down further.