As for the Electra, I think one needs to check it out before making a judgement call. The intent of the bike isn't to go 100 miles at 30mph. It is for neighborhood/beach/leisure cruising, and it does that quite well. Luckily, the neighborhood cruising part is the exact application that we wanted. Anyone that says you don't get good exercise or have great fun with a bike like this is nuts. I'm sure if you're very serious about tandem riding as a sport, there are much better alternatives...but we're in it for enjoyment and exercise only.
We did a 5 mile ride last Saturday....we're slowly working our way up!