My husband and I love our tandem!

Kind of a newbie lurker here, but I just can't resist responding to this thread!

We found our tandem on Craigslist for $500 and the owner threw in handlebar and rack bags, and a tandem carrier for the yakima rack. It's a Kuwahara from about 15 years ago(?) and it was set up for week-end tours in CA wine country. It had been sitting in the previous owners' garage until the husband finally decided he could let it go.

We updated a few things and are very happy with it. We laughingly named it The Albatross because we are not very graceful in our starts and stops, but once we're cruising, we're fine! Hubby is 6'2" and I am 5'4" and although the frame fits him fine, it's larger than I would ever get for me in a solo bike. I think it's 19" for me in the stoker position, and normally I ride a 15"or 17",depending on the frame. My road bike is a 51cm.

The larger tandem frame is fine while I'm riding but I can't touch the ground easily when stopped. And, at this point, that's okay since mounting and dismounting are different for tandems as opposed to solo bikes. It is not the tandem of our dreams, but it has shown us that we really like riding together. We like it so much that we are looking forward to commuting together to the university where he works and I am a grad student. It's a little over 8 miles each way in very little traffic, with a bit of an uphill at each end.

I second the above comments re. watching Craigslist and eBay for used tandems. They don't have to be fancy to see if you like them. I have my eye on the Trek 900 for our next tandem, but we'll see how things go this year. I am hoping it goes well enough to attend the Pacific Northwest Tandem Rally up in Victoria BC next July. Has anybody been to any of these rallies? What are they like? We are total newbies to all of this.

Sorry for the long post, but I think you should go ahead bite the bullet. If one for a reasonable price comes along, just do it, even if all the specs are not perfect. Even an imperfect, but workable, bike at a reasonable price will give you a really good idea if you want to pursue tandem riding or not.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

Kate