tandemnh

To throw in my 2 cents worth. My wife and I purchased a 2007 Cannondale Tandem2. First tandem so cost was a consideration. You can't break it down but we have not traveled on Amtrak or plane yet. So far we put it on the rear bike rack on my truck if we go places. We are headed to ETR 2009 rally in July, about a 400 mile drive...

Aside from the price $2.6k, the bike is a great first time tandem. It is quick and handles very well. We feel comfortable at speed and the weight feels light. We always look for hills when we are out riding, living in southern NH they are not hard to find.

We did our first ride of the season yesterday, 32 miles, 11 hills. Enjoyable and a great workout. Just a thought different from all the info above. With the outlay less than most the other bikes, maybe by the time you need a triple you can sell this bikd and up grade to one of the more expensive bikes.

invisiblehand

Yeah ... we are thinking that a series of long test rides really is necessary. Or alternatively, picking up a used tandem to get some serious mileage under our belt to give us a better perspective on what we really want from a tandem. Maybe both!

PMK

I can relate to this one.

When we bought our first tandem, it was a used but barely ridden and never seen dirt Cannondale MT3000. I was fortunate in that the seller let me make a few dial in adjustments to check that it fit us. When done, I almost thought he didn't want to part with it as he had no idea the original owner had fully lowered both seatposts but also slid the forks way up into the triple clamps.

Lucky for us he sold it to us, albeit a few hundred less than he wanted. We showed him the money and his boss (wife) said sold.

The comment then came of when we would come back to pick it up. While my wife and the sellers counted money in the sellers kitchen, I quickly removed wheels, seatposts and seats, and unfastened the rear der. Flipped the rear seat down in the Civic. Put everything on the blankets and towels we brought. When they emerged from the house, I thanked them and off we went. None of them believed it would be loaded and expected a big ordeal.

My wife said she was not expecting to get it for what we offered, nor that it would fit in the car. I explained, you gotta have a plan.

Now we are on our third tandem, and have two in the stable having sold our first road tandem as it was to small. This was a chance we took buying it without a testride, but rather basing the fit on published specs and comparing to what we already had. Unfortunately I was wrong.

In regards to travel, all of our trips have been by loading the van (full size Ford setup to haul MX bikes).

For our Tahoe trip in June, I remained persistent and got a good deal on a Bike Pro case, and separately bought two padded wheel bags. Our plans don't, at this time, call for a lot of trips with the bike, so for now this works for us. If in our retirement, we see a need for an S&S design, we might need a new new bike then.

Again, I love the photo of the loaded up Honda.

Thanks
PK

Chris_W

Santana do indeed list the main benefit of their placement of the front S&S couplers behind the captain's seat-tube as making the dismantled bike stronger. However, that seems to be completely unnecessary to me, and certainly doesn't offset the inconvenience in messing with the timing chain every time I take the front end off and having to remove the fork to pack it into airline cases.

S&S state on their own website that putting the couplers in front of the seat-tube on a tandem does make the dismantled bike slightly less sturdy, but they are aware of "no reported damage of any tandem due to this characteristic." The frame sections lay in the bottom of our solid suitcases when travelling by plane, and I cannot see how they could be subjected to any twisting forces of even a minor degree. When moving the partially-dismantled bike around train stations, it is only the front end of the bike that has a non-closed frame, but it still seems very sturdy and I cannot imagine what could happen to it to cause it to be damaged because of the frame configuration. Therefore I greatly prefer this set-up and am happy that we didn't get a Santana for this reason.

EDIT: Also, I just realized that when only removing the front end with the Santana design (front couplers behind captain's seat-tube), you also end up with an open frame section, except that this time it is at the rear of the bike. Those tubes would be longer than the open tubes are when the couplers are placed in front of the captain's seat-tube, and would therefore be more susceptible to damage. Therefore, when only partially disassembling the bike to fit it in a car or train then Santana's method would seem to result in a weaker design, rather than a stronger one. However, Santana's method would make the two halves more equal in size.

You can read further comparisons of the two different coupler placings on the S&S website here.

invisiblehand

Great page. I never noticed it before. Thanks.

WebsterBikeMan

"Big/small": Yes. We're about 20 pounds closer together than you, and I would say we qualify as big/small. I haven't been called short since my teenage years, so at my weight, I'm just comfortably heavy enough not to be under-weight. But among cyclists, I'm heavy.

As for "team", well, you'll have to figure that one out on your own...

djsincla

Santana uses 2 couplers for each tube - You end up with front and rear triangles and 3 (or 4) tubes. Since the couplers are easy to disconnect, I do not think leaving one end connected is something that you would routinely need to do. I have had both a 3 tube (S&S + Z Coupler) and 4 tube (S&S only) coupled Santana and not had any issues with these bikes - the couplers work great. My bike packs into 2 26x26x10 hard cases.