Hey guys- I know several of you ride tandems in addition to your single bikes, Mimi, Veronica............

Well, I never thought I would consider it, but last night when I brought up to my husband that I thought we should start looking for a new touring bike for him, he suggested we consider a tandem instead. No matter how much faster I get, he gets faster too.... He is a very strong cyclist, one of the strongest men in our club. When we tour together, he periodically waits for me, but says that isn't much fun, that it would be better if we could just share the work and ride continuously. While I thought I wouldn't like the loss of control, he is a very skilled rider, and given that I have been having issues with glucose control lately really riding together does have certain advantages. I know the answer is to test ride, and we do have friends with tandems likely to fit well enough, but with my 3 cm leg length discrepancy I don't think I could ride a bike without my modified crank on it.

What do you guys think about frame material?. I am thinking we'd want s/s couplers which spells steel, but would it be heavy (I don't care but my husband has a need for speed)? What framebuilders/brands do you guys recommend? I was very happy with the work Bilenky did on my s/s retrofit, so we could consider having them build us one. How often to s/s coupled tandems appear used? I saw a lot of tandems on ebay, but not with couplers. Maybe this will be our 25th wedding anniversary gift to ourselves.........As soon to be empty nesters we will have more time for touring, etc.