At least you know what/where NSW is, unfortunately there are some really stupid people who would have no idea what we are on about.

Insinuating something Hopper?

What I'm getting at is a stereotype about some Americans who know nothing other than the the wonderful US of A. The people here seem to be in the know, but some of the people you see representing USA.......

I am from Canada. Not the us. And I really don't know much geographically about places I haven't been. I probably know more about the average aussie than most would, but I don't care for geography (heck on some weird grade 3 test I could only get 12 states in the US of A) I am definately ignorant of geography :) I really wouldn't ever expect anyone to know some obscure abbreviation for a small area of the world. Heck I wouldn't expect anyone to know where poco is or even where it is in Canada.

Expat: i'm in Sydney. just good to know there's another NSW poster. use pm if you feel like a chat.

nah dont worry mael, i dont expect many ppl outside the country to know these things - heck i dont know the geography of Canada or the US well anyway.

back on topic(sortof): i dont see how tandems can really work as mountain bikes... does anyone out there actually use them off-road? or should the term "off-road" be used loosely?

I wouldlove to try the nicolai tandem. Thing looks beastly. On ridemonkey there is a guy who did a DH race at some resort in the states on a tandem.

by himself??!? :p

ok seriously, i find it hard enough maneuvering rock gardens with a "short" bike - with a tandem's length that'll be pretty tough to say the least. but i guess if you're going dh, just strap in and let the fork do the travelling? i dont want to be the guy at the back....

No with his gf hahaha...

well, if she was up back, i'm sure she had one heck of a ride with all those bumps :p

/mind still in gutter, coffee not working

We take our tandem off road. Yeah, rock gardens are an adventure. But we never run out of uphill traction, and as long as there's no jumps or drops, we fly on everything else. The bike has it's limitations, but with a 5" travel DH fork up front, we do ok. Use every bit of those 203mm rotors too. We tried Ti rotors at first, and cooked them in only 200k of riding. My wife has really gotten into it too. She seems to like it better than her full suspension bike.

ur tandem is realli sweet dude....... i still like the ellesworth witness.. urs is way better with those damn 8" rotors. the witness is alot easier on the body though because it has a 5"(i think) real shock but the front fork is no match for ur dh fork.

Please avoid aolese. It is not tolerated on this forum. Use complete words please.

We'd like to build a Ventana tandem, as they offer 4 or 6 inches of rear travel, but it's not really necessary. I've had several full suspension bikes, and appreciated the extra comfort and control, but I'm pretty old school. When I got into mountain bikes, there really was no rear suspension, and front suspension was pretty exotic. I couldn't ride today without 3 inches of front travel, but I don't need more than that. This is going to sound painful to some of you, but my latest project was to take all the light bits off a $3500 custom full suspension frame, and put them on my single speed (gasp!). What happened to the F/S? A short stem, tall riser, big cushy seat, and my wife is riding around on a one-off ex team bike. We've got some expensive bikes, but we prefer the tandem. More adrenaline, because we're on the edge a lot more. Yes, it handles like a school bus, and gives a great upper body workout, but the team effort, and riding with my wife is an excellent reward. Ok, I'm off topic. Bottom line, we let the fork soak up the big hits, and keep our knees bent.