My boyfriend is a serious biker. I am seriously not. He's been lusting for a tandem beach cruiser and I want to surprise him with one for his bday. This tandem would be for short rides, casual beach cruising (with some hills) only and I don't want to spend much. I've read what I can here in this forum. Seems folks think the Schwinn Tango is crap. The Electra seems a little pricey (to me) for what it is (only 3 gears?). The Kent DualDrive seems like a good value. And if I buy the Kent and my boyfriend thinks this was a big mistake, we can return it to WalMart. Any holes in my logic? Other things I should consider here?

Also, I've only ridden a tandem once and the directly linked pedals seemed like a pain to me. Seems independent peddling would be real nice. Or is this something you get used to so no real problem?

Thanks for your help!
Sandra-Rose

My advice: Go get the Kent and see if you two enjoy riding together. If you wind up liking it you'll trade up whenever you're ready. Just getting started in tandeming is the more important part. I think that you might just find it surprisingly fun to share in his riding enthusiasm.

The only independent pedalling system I've seen is on the DaVinci tandems which are pricey for beginners. Otherwise, just take off the pedals from the stoker's cranks and let the serious biker take care of all the work...LOL.


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Last year our LBS had a new tandem Raleigh for about $600. It had independent pedalling, unheard of on a bike that price. I am sure if you look around you can still find one of those. I'll do some searching and see if I can find you the exact model we looked at.

I'll be damned.. just went through the catalogs for Raleigh for the past few years and no mention of the ICS.. I know I looked at that bike and almost bought it! it was a great tandem cruiser, I was shopping for our first at the time and was impressed at that independant pedal feature for the price.

I'll have to drop by there this weekend and ask about it.

https://teamspirit.net/dv2.html

The DaVinci ICS is the only independent coasting system I've found on a traditional tandem.

Bilenky Cycle Works has a hybrid recumbent tandem that has an independent pedaling system as well.

https://www.bilenky.com/viewpnt.html

Actually, the Schwinn Tango @ $600 (or whatever they're selling for these days) does have independent pedaling. Unfortunately, from all accounts the quality truly is spotty at best.

I also believe the Independent Pedaling System (IPS) developed by Advanced Transportation Products / Vision Recumbents years ago is still being offered and can be retrofit onto any tandem: it's basically a replacement drive-side crankset and the cost not significantly higher than a good crankset. You'll find mention of it on places like EasyStreetRecumbents.com and elsewhere by Googling.

Anyway, 99% of the folks who ride tandems do so using the traditional, linked crank systems without any problems. The IPS is a great innovation as well and most folks who use it love it, even those who didn't think they would. However, as noted, even on daVinci's newest, lower-cost models it's well beyond the price band the OP is shopping for.

My recommendation is to go with your plan on the Kent and be committed to returning it to get your money back if things don't pan out. Alternatively, you could check out garage sales & Craigslist in your local area for used Schwinn tandems from the 60's - late 70's: they're cheap but durable and will let you decide if you want to spend anymore on a tandem to meet your recreational needs.

Finally, do a search of the BikeForums.net archives for postings by BAH regarding their Extracycle tandems. You don't have to do the ExtraCycle part but they can certainly comment on the quality / performance of the Electra tandem they used for their Extracycle two-fer.

Independent pedaling is not necessary. In other words, is it nice, I am sure it is, but over 100+ years of tandem bicycles being ridden ALMOST ALL have had linked pedaling. In addition, they have almost all been in-phase. You will get used to it. (OK, there have been millions of people through history who have gotten used to it.) My wife and I like the sense of connectedness we have specifically because we are connected in our pedaling.

So, my suggestion, get an inexpensive tandem and try it out. If you like it you can choose to keep that tandem and just enjoy the experience or choose to upgrade to a tandem that will better meet your needs.

If you can find a used tandem close by they do tend to be less expensive, but particularly for those people who don't have a lot of used tandems coming on their local market it might be necessary to buy new and inexpensive now and seeing if you like tandeming first, then start looking for used or new exactly as you want it.

If you do go with the Walmart tandem make sure you are getting the Kent, they do also sell a single speed cruiser tandem. I wouldn't recommend a single speed tandem except for very casual, flat riding.

Pacific also has a tandem, looks about the same league as the Walmart Kent, which is available from such places as Toys R Us, Toys & Games Online, I've seen it at Scheels (a sporting goods store here in Iowa), Amazon, etc.

Um, on the other hand... Surprises are nice, but...

If he is a serious cyclist like you say, he may have some opinions (stated or not) about what he would like in a tandem. Instead maybe you can "give him a tandem" as a nice card like, (warning sappy birthday card alert), "Because I love you and want to share our bicycling time as one let's find a tandem together to grow closer on." Who knows, he might say the, "I have been looking at the Trek Cruiseliner. Let's go together and look at it."

Maybe I am overly cautious, but gifts of $200, $400, $600+, unless you absolutely KNOW the receiver wants that specific gift, can be risky. The outward, "Thanks, it is just what I wanted." and the inward, "If they had asked I could have helped them find what I really wanted."

OK, didn't want to get too negative, but I know when my wife and I started looking for a tandem I first picked up a $80 hanging in my friends garage tandem. We didn't fit on it, it was only a 5 speed, the seats were painful, the chain preferred to jump off the gears, etc. etc. When we were shopping for our tandem we have now we went together, talked about what our expectations were, rode a few samples, talked with a number of bike shops, and finally found the tandem that met our combination of size, options, comfort, price, relationship with the bike shop... and have been happily tandeming since.

I guess I had more time on my hands then I thought. Hopefully this long random walk helps you make a decision. As for the two of us, we highly recommend tandem bicycling to couples who enjoy being together.

Thanks everybody for the great advice and ideas. Not sure what I'll do yet but you've given me some great things to think about and I really appreciate it!