Originally Posted by
KRhea
After reading the post regarding the decrease in both tandem sales/participants I thought this was very interesting.
The Northwest has been and remains a place that marches to the beat of a different drummer when it comes to cycling, but it suffices to say that a well-priced premium tandem is a hot commodity in any market condition. The ones that sit around forever are the ones that are simply priced too high, a bit too specialized, being offered in a weak region, or a combination of all three. If you don't mind me asking, what was your selling price?
As for the "tandem slump" stats, I'd hoped that had been debunked...
http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.p...60&postcount=9
My gut feel from my annual tandem owners survey was that, overall, the tandem market had a steady inflow of new participants, but it also seemed like the gains were being somewhat off-set by those whose interest was short-lived.
http://www.thetandemlink.com/surveys..._analysis.html
The other thing I look at every year is membership in the Tandem Club of America which continues to fall off not because of an overall market trend... it's just an organization that lacks purpose and does very little to promote tandeming. Many of us remain members out of a sense of duty but that wears thin too.
http://www.thetandemlink.com/surveys/tcamembership.html
Some of these polls did what they were supposed to do and spurred some discussions about trends in cycling and tandem cycling as well. In some respects, I tend to write from a half empty perspective to off-set all of the half-full folks in the search for 'data' that quantifies the growth. Now I will say that in talking with different tandem dealers from around the country the market is very lopsided. In some regions tandem sales are very strong and there is a very stead inflow of new participants. In fact, many of the newer teams are much more serious cyclists an those who have entered the market in the past in their mid-to-late 30's all the way up to the more traditional entry ages which also speaks to the growth in the higher-end and racing tandems. However, in other regions sales are way off.
So, as always, every new data point is valuable and it's good to know that there are a lot of folks out there ready to jump into tandeming this spring and on the prowl for good deals on better quality used tandems.... as well as knocking on the doors of new tandem buyers.