My wife and I rode the Elroy Sparta rails to trails ride in Wisconsin last summer. The small bike rental shop happened to have a beater tandem that no one ever rode. It was old, it was heavy, the frame was bent, but we had a blast. We stopped in each town and had a beer and something to eat, hung out with the locals, smelled the cow pies. It sold us on the idea of tandeming. There is a shop in the Chicago area that rents tandems nicer than that beloved clunker, and I think we’ll spend an afternoon doing that.

The idea of making the stoker happy rings true for me. I’ll ride anything as long as it’s nice, it’s more important for me that my wife is happy and comfortable. I hear you on the issue of fit. Very good advice.

After listening to you guys talk, the Pinarello idea is bagged. As soon as Dave Bohm said buy something American, I thought, hell yes, keep the money here, the job you save may be your own. Then TandemGeek (My man, how many tandems do you have?) asks, who designed the Pinarello?, and I thought, good question, very good question. I race Eddy Merckx/Campagnolo bicycles because they have pure racing pedigrees. What does Pinarello know about tandems? Squat is my answer.

I think I’ll use a $4K-$7K bracket on my research. $4 being good enough to make me happy and $7 if I get goofy. My thoughts on bicycles has always been, I’d rather wait a season and save to get something I really want rather than forcing a decision based on time. Might be too late to get a bike for this season anyway.

You guys are great, thanks for you conversation. I don’t mind tandem builders giving me the sales pitch, I’m all ears.

If we ever meet on the road, first beer’s on me.