dan333SP:

Been riding singles since the early 1970s.
Started tandeming in 1975 and so far have pedaled TWOgether for over 230,000 miles (right amount of zeroes). We like the shared joy of riding as a team. We never have to wait to see if our riding partner made it through the traffic light, see if they had a flat or can make it up the hill/mountain.
The topic involved 'carbon', and yes our tandem and my single racing machine are both custom built 'carbon'.
We are not snobs, but know what we want/like and can afford.
But convincing you of our preferences is like you convincing a non-bike rider that you are having fun on your single bike.
At ages 81 and 78 we still ride thousands of miles every year on our tandem.
Wishing you a great cycling year in 2014!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem