Originally Posted by Doggus
Stapfam...you mention, expensive to maintain. Just how expensive? Do these things need to hit the shop real often? I'm very mechanically inclined. As long as there's no complicated electrical components involved, I can fix/maintain just about anything with the right tools.
Do these bikes need more maintenance than a regular road bike?
No more maintenance than a normal bike and no more difficult. The expense side comes in from the fact that you cannot get away with fitting parts from the cheaper end of the price scale. Just as an example-- Headsets. You can fit the run of the mill headset from the bottom end of the market. It will not last very long. On a solo these may last me 6 months. Then at the other end of the scale you can fit a Chris King. You will never have to replace it but it will still need stripping and regreasing and on as frequent a basis as any other head set. In the middle there is a good heavy duty unit that will not break up under the impacts given to it from a tandem. It will last a good few years, but once again will need maintaining.
My Tandem does not get as much milage as my solo, but it is regularly maintained. My big expense is chains, chain rings and cassettes. Crossover chain not changed in 4,000 miles but in that time 6 rear cassettes (Don't buy XT by the way, Use the stronger and cheaper LX) Chains only last 500 miles if I am lucky and the middle ring is the one I wear out, the outer one I keep bending on rocks, and the small front ring I change as a matter of course every time I change the middle ring, but believe me, they do not have much life left in them. (My fault for riding offroad in all weathers.) Actual breakages are Nil. Like any other mechanical biker, things are checked and adjusted, on a frequent basis, with replacement coming before breakage.