"...make sure I bring down a car ...." Tandem in a wagon??
 

Anyone have an idea of the length of a tandem from fork blade end to rear sprocket? I'm guessing @ 66-68", but really have no idea. Just wondering :rolleyes:if I'd be able to get a tandem frame set in my Subaru wagon if needs be. Forks on the front seat counsol, wheels off, etc.

Your guess is correct, 65 to 68 depending how you turn the fork. I just bought a used tandem and could fit it, wheels off the frame, inside my Grand Cherokee with the rear seats down. It didn't have to go over the front seat. If you have a good rear trunk rack you can also fit the tandem by removing a wheel, it shouldn't be wider than the width between your side mirrors which is the rule in many states.

That frame looks te same size as mine. I am 6'3" and it fits me fine.. but I use a longer stem.

The bike comes with frame pump, 5 water cages, pedals, rack... Defenitely a good deal!

Several years after we bought the duet and we started doing some steep climbing we found the wheel set to be unrealiable. We upgraded the wheels and cold reset the rear spacing to 145mmm and now have it as a 9 speed rig. Depending on your terrain/usage you may never have to worry about that.

We just purchased a Burley Rock n'Roll for less $550 on craigslist - XT components, 8spd barcons, drop bar set-up - and it's going to work well for us for a long time.
Enjoy the tandem - we certainly are.

Hi BigBird2,
You'll nearly always get great advice from the folks here. This is an especially good place for new Tandem teams as there are so many different riders here with deep experience, much more so than at any LBS and no one here is trying to sell their product. I'll have to second Mikedrevguy on the Craigslist buys. We bought our first Tandem (a Raleigh Coupe, 26" Mtn bike with a second set of road tires) on Craigslist Asheville. We paid too much for it ($800)but it was maintained in perfect condition (nearly showroom) by very serious biking couple. Our second Tandem was a great buy, a one year old KHS, again perfectly maintained by a Fireman whose second job was working in a bike shop. It was absolutely mint, came with a RockyMount Tandem rack (the best for our Ford Focus wagon) for $1k....which we felt was just outstanding since we were looking at a new one for $1800.....If you are getting the idea that "size matters" you are getting the right idea. Cost was a consideration for us but a really good price matters not if the size is wrong as your Tandeming experience will be made or broken by how comfortable the two of you are. Might I add on the side of comfort that keeping your "stoker" happy is the key to enjoying life on a Tandem. Right now we have a total of three tandems, the Raleigh, the KHS and now, of all things, a TerraTrike recumbent Tandem which is just pure pleasure to ride Good luck to you...wish we'd have gotten into Tandeming when we were in our 30's but better late than never...ken

Still looking....
 

Well I missed out on the Burley. We were hoping to go down on Sunday afternoon to check it out, but the owner emailed me Sat evening that it was sold:(. So... back to the drawing board I guess. Still looking.......

It's going to depend on the tandem, but you can get to within 1 or 2 inches by looking at a dead-on side view, assuming you know the wheel diameter and use that for scale. I will say we got our custom Bilenky (somewhat larger than anything you're likely to find stock - I'm 6'3") into the back of our Prius with the wheels off, but that was before it had fenders and racks, and the car had a very small stoker compartment with the seat slid forward to fit the bike behind it :p. We had it on its side, with the forks/bars behind the passenger seat.

Now I "break it in half" first, since it has S+S couplers.

I don't know how the back of a Subaru wagon compares to the back of a Prius - I know how the front compares (I don't fit in the Subaru, I do in the Prius).

Good luck with the continued quest.