sslothrop

I'm interested in buying a tandem, mostly for me and my wife but also for our 8 yr. old. I wanted to keep it under $1000 but my wife asys $1500. Who am I to argue. I live in NY City. Can anyone reccomend a shop in the area that stocks tandems? If anyone can reccomend a bike in our range I would appreciate it. We would like to try a tour in the near future. I'm not interested in buying used. Thanks.

zonatandem

Howdy from Tucson!

Take your wife's advice . . .
Closest tandem specific shop near you would likely be Tandems East, in N.J. run by Mel and Barb Kornbluh . . . great folks to deal with and he has lots of tandems in stock.
www.tandemseast.com
Tell 'em Rudy and Kay sent ya!

Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

jkegarch

My wife and I just picked up an '05 Raleigh Coupe on Saturday from Meto Bicycles in New Rochelle, NY. Ours was the smaller of the two sizes available. They also had the larger size in stock and were getting ready to build it this week. As far as I know it hasn't been spoken for. Good luck.

ElRey

tandems East is the largest and best tandem dealer in our area. It's about 2 hours from Manhattan but worth the trip. Call Mel first and see what he has to show you.

ElRey

upon further review.... jkegarch may have a better idea: the Raleigh is right in your price bracket. MOst of Mel's stuff would be more. BUt a call woudn't hurt.

masiman

+1 on Mel. He does get some used tandems.

galen_52657

Here is the web site

https://www.tandemseast.com/index.html

Richbiker

Hey, I live in New York City (Bronx) & own a tandem. Do a search on the tandems page of Bikeforums for "Spicer" and you will see my tandem. There aren't many tandem owners here due to space constraints. Shops sometimes don't stock them for the same reason--lack of space, but they can order for you. Any Raleigh dealer could get you a Raleigh tandem. Any KHS dealer can get you one of their tandems. Anyone who lists themselves as a Burley dealer . . . and so on. Trek has the t900 (or something like that). Fuji has a pretty affordable tandem. Those would be your most likely options under $1500. Check the yellow pages for these dealers. If Metro has any raleigh, trek, or fuji tandems in stock, any one of their stores can get the tandem moved to the store location closest to you (I used to work for Metro).

Rich Conroy
allez_epic01@yahoo.com

Leisesturm

Well I have to admit. This thread and the other "Entry Level Tandem" thread got me going. When I was ready to talk turkey I did not go to my usual LBS (Gotham) but a store where my GF bought my Christmas present and received very good service. Truth to tell the guys downtown are alright but they never treated me like someone who spent a lot of money in their establishment and was always in for the odd strobe or inner tube etc. stuff I could mailorder if I planned well enough. Anyway we find ourselves talking to 6th Ave Bicycles and finding out that they are Raleigh dealers but alas have no Raleigh Coupe. No tandems at all. Too big. Too little room in the store. Neither do any of the other Metro Bikes stores in the city their computer inventory indicates. But it just so happens, Dan says, that our sister store up in New Rochelle has one... so its gone. Put a deposit on it this afternoon. ETA is Monday in NYC, then dealer prep and buyers remorse? Actually I have buyers remorse already. This is shaping up to be a real showdown between the KHS Milano/Cross and Raleigh Companion/Coupe camps maybe there should be a poll.

H

masiman

Ride it and enjoy it. It may be the best thing since sliced bread. Take at least 2 years on it to help you nail down what different features you would like before going into your next one which you will probably spend more money on. I think making the jump too soon to another tandem would compound any buyers remorse. Spending time on this one and appreciating it will remove most any buyers remorse.

Mark IV

My wife and I just got an '05 Coupe (the '05s were stealth black!) and love it. I had Doug at Cyclesmith here kick it up a notch, and they did a great job - Ritchey stem and drops in front, 105 shifters, 10-speed cluster, and clipless pedals. But it rode great stock. Raleigh is coming on strong, although I can't say a word against KHS. Don't ever get buyer's remorse - it ruins one of the greatest joys in cycling, that new-toy joy. So ride and enjoy...Mark

Second Mouse

Good work on that Coupe, Mark IV. I saw it up at Cyclesmith--an XL/M, right? Doug checked on the same bike for me, but it looks like you got the last of the '05s, so he'll be checking on an '06. I'd say you got a screamin' deal--hope you have a great time on the new ride! (and on the off-chance that it doesn't work out for you, let me know!)

Cheers.

Veloduo

Briefly considered both the KHS and Raleigh Coupe when contemplating my first tandem purchase two years ago. Had experience as a stoker on a road-modified Schwinn Paramount track tandem back when I was in college, so my direct experience was "historical" at best.

Rode the Raleigh. OK. Rode the KHS, and we liked it a little better. Can't say exactly why. Better feel, better response, more comfortable. Rode a Cannondale for grins (didn't want to spend that much initially) -- that did it for me. Quality leap was obvious. Started shopping for a used Cannondale. Pal told me to check Ebay; said look at bikes sold by thebesttandems (this is the Ebay Seller ID for the Santana factory). Santana sells its factory demos this way. Picked up a Santana Arriva chromo with estimated less than 200 demo miles -- bike was like new -- for less than $1900 including shipping! A new Santana Arriva goes for $3895. Bike is wonderful. Felt like a genius.

Good luck.