FoC

The wife and I bought a Diamondback Wildwood tandem for a little over $600.

We love it so far

Leisesturm

This is all very interesting. Last September I joined this forum after a horrible experience with a rented tandem in Central Park. My new GF and I quickly realized we had better buy rather than continue renting because rentals at $75.00/day from good LBS's would kill us. I don't recall any mention of the tandems discussed in this thread, last year. In fact I got the impression that anything below $1000.00 was beneath contempt unless it was once in the $2.5k range. Against advice we got the W-Mart tandem and aside from its weight we have had no problems. Not a single broken spoke and the only component replaced has been the stoker seat. I suspect most $500 tandems are not significantly better than the W-Mart version and the savings can buy a lot of accessories. I've even used it as a solo snowmobile one snowy morning in Hoboken this past winter.

This season we would like to do some club rides and I feel we need something decent. My GF loves our present mount so it will not be a joint purchase. I have never bought a car that cost more than $1200 and the last one I bought cost $800 and I crossed this country (East - West) twice with it! It was towed by NYC's overzealous DOT and would have cost more to spring from the impound yard than I paid for it. I mention this to put the prospect of paying over $1000 for a bicycle, even a tandem, into perspective. Since reading this thread last Friday I have researched all the bikes mentioned in it. I think a Tsunami Ti-Boom is perhaps the coolest tandem I have ever seen. At $600+ for just the frame, my question is, how would the final bike spec out? In other words, what component levels make sense on a $600 frame? Building a complete tandem from scratch is not beyond me but if the price of it goes much higher than $1200 I think I would be better off just buying a Tandemania Cross or Raleigh Coupe and calling it good.

I notice the Tandemania Cross costs a bit more than the Raleigh Coupe. Both bikes interest me but the Raleigh has more speeds and sounds lighter, certainly the tires are more for speed than the Cross. Since we already have the heavy tank like mountain tandem I think our hybrid should be biased toward road performance rather than off road tough. Any thoughts on Ti-Boom vs Tandemania vs Raleigh??

H

2wheeled

My wife and I also want to start tandeming and that KHS looks like a good deal. Can anyone give a review of the tandem?

galen_52657

I purchased my KHS Milano in November of 2004. Can't say exactly how many miles I have put on the bike (don't have a cycle computer on it), but spring, summer & fall I ride it at least once a week and much more once the temps are up.

There is really not much negative to say about this bike, other than the stock seats did not go over well. But seeing as most cyclists (including me) already have their favorite saddle, I figured to toss the stock saddles anyway.

The Milano comes in 2 frame sizes, small and large. At 6" 4" tall, I have the large sizes - a 23" x 21". I was able to get the frame to fit quite well by not cutting the steerer, using spacers to get the bars up as high as they would go and using a long stem. I have had stokers from 5' 2" tall to 5' 9" tall on the back and could still go a little shorter and a lot taller.

The frame I am sure is not as stiff as a high-end name-brand frame. If I stand on a hill with an inexperienced stoker and we can't get coordinated, you can feel the frame flex but it's not excessive. Or, if you are barrelling down hill and throw the bike into a turn you can feel some give, but not much.

All in all it's a steal for what I paid for it - $900 new. With my upgrades - saddles, 180 mm TA Specialties captain's crankset, seat bag, tools & bottle holders - I might have $1,200 invested. I have ridden this bike on a tandem rally and was mixing it up with the high-end tandems in the front group. The bike is not going to hold you back.

These bikes where once plentiful on Ebay and through other on-line shops, but they seem to be a little harder to find these days.

Good luck!

PhucNguyen57

I going to start out with one of these https://cgi.ebay.com/TANDEM-BIKE-BICY...QQcmdZViewItem because my girlfriend is not real sure about riding and I'm not going to spend a bunch on a bike that might not be used regularly. We will only be using if for short rides, bike scavenger hunts, and the ocasional alley cat. It is only about $300 with shipping in the end.

modmon

Honestly, you might be better off renting a tandem from a shop to see whether or not the tandem thing is going to work out for the two of you. Most shops will take your rental money and allow you to put it toward your purchase if you do decide on buying a tandem.
Otherwise, shop around a little more. Check your local papers and craigslist... Ill admit I have no experience with the bike youre about to buy but it really seems like a bad idea.

2wheeled

galan, thanks for your feedback, I think we're going to make the leap into tandeming in the next couple of months.

Cheers

regomatic

We bought our first tandem, a mid '90's Burley Duet just over a year ago, and got hooked on tandem riding right away.

I later found a deal on a like-newTrek T2000 that was too good to pass up, so that's our regular ride.

I've been holding on to the Burley hoping to find someone deserving of a good deal on a good bike in hope that they'll get the bug like we did. It's within your price range and in very good condition. How close are you to Orlando, FL?