S and S Couplings - Anyone Used Them?

[Quillfred]

I am looking at a touring bike that would break down and travel well. I did a search and found these couplings mentioned. Does anyone have any experience with them?

I'm wondering if they are reliable, not too heavy. It would seem so great to be able to travel with a full sized bike if.....

Thanks!

[KnottedYet]

Go ask Smiley at R+E to show you their bikes with those couplings. They look pretty cool.

I don't need a bike that will come apart like that, but if i did those would probably be my choice. (unless a Bike Friday was just too cute for me to pass up... I'm so fickle!)

[Veronica]

Here's half of our tandem when we went to Hawaii.

I'm sure they must add some weight. But if you want to fit your bike into travel size luggage, it's a good option. I think you can get any bike retrofitted with them.

For our singles we decided instead to get a travel case that holds two bikes. You do have to pay extra when you fly domestically. And then you have to have a place to stash the case.

V.

[RedRansV2]

I haven't used them but am interested myself. They have an excellent reputation among recumbent and tandem riders. If you haven't located it already, here's their website http://www.sandsmachine.com/

And the framebuilders list shows 3 builders in Seattle. IIRC, they don't recommend retrofitting aluminum frames but it's ok to use the couplers if it's built with them from the beginning.

I wish these builders wouldn't do their own photography , but these are some fun custom carved lugs--Clavin and Hobbs, penguins jumping from a cliff, etc.
http://www.sandsmachine.com/carvlugs.htm