Steel tandems

[Kiwi Stoker]

Strangely we "killed" our third brake we installed that was a disc- tiotally jammed the wheel so had to SAG home.

Depends what type of brake and what brake pads a tandem has. Disc is not always best! A Trek T90 sounds like a good starter for you and has 26" wheels.

[salsabike]

Hey, here's another thought---check the Cascade website's classifieds. I've seen used tandems for sale there too. You know we got our 91 Burley at Recycled Cycles for $350. We were very lucky. But I would hang in there looking for a used one because I agree---I think there are frequent sales of those.

[malkin]

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218...=tandem%20bike

You could come to SLC to check it out and we could tandem in tandem!

[Trek420]

It's too big. We're both a lot shorter

[malkin]

I thought maybe.
Keep the link though--those classifieds are really great, and with Utah being the land of recreation and the land of togetherness, there a a lot of them floating by.

Have you two ever ridden a tandem together?

[malkin]

I just reread the earlier posts.

If the $250.00 tandems haven't been blown to smithereens by the folks at the tandem forums, then maybe they're ok. Last time I tiptoed through there, it was like a mine field outlined by sharp shooters, cocked and ready to fire on anything that wasn't state of the art and top of the line.

(I'm exagerating that a tiny bit, and there are people over there who are really nice and a couple that we've even ridden with.)

Really, if you're going to stay on the flats, go slow, take it easy and try to figure out if you really even like riding a tandem at all it might be ok. And, yah--go ahead and set it up with Brooks saddles. No point if having an unhappy backside when you already know what your backside wants. Just use saddle locks.

Trek T900 wouldn't be a bad beginning bike either. They're sturdy, adjustable, and everywhere. We've taken beginners out on one and they did just fine.

Another possibility would be to do a shout out to find some friendly tandem team in your area and see if they know some one who knows someone...or they can give you some tips on staying sane while you learn to ride together (or "two-gether" like 'zona' says.)

We didn't have this luxury, but it can be useful for a beginning stoker to have the opportunity to ride behind an experienced captain. Learning to ride stoker behind someone who hasn't figured out how to ride as captain can be terrifying!

[carolp]

We got our comotion frame on ebay and built it up, making it a whole lot cheaper than a new one, or even a used one on craigslist.

[Dulcineigha]

My bf bought us an old Trek200 after we'd had some very enjoyable rides on a high-quality rental. I'm not sure it's going to work because of the "q-factor". At least I think that's what it is called. The width between the pedals for the stoker. Apparently it is wider on different tandems. I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to ride this tandem because I can't ride with my knees torqued to accommodate the wider stance. If you have ANY knee issues, you should give this some serious thought. Believe me, the medical bills you'll rack up will FAR exceed what you pay for a tandem that fits you.