Need advice for custom tandem

[Serotta Jim]

Dave Kirk made this tandem for the the wife & I. Great guy to work with, rides great and it truly is a beautiful bike. Downside - 14 month lead time and frame & fork hit 5 figures.

[Tokie]

NbyNY-the 8 ball was one we had missed - good concept for a trip when the stoker wants a day off or was injured. I've never met anyone w/ a Rodriguez

AZfiddle- Nice to recommend a local craftsman, his bikes look beautiful. I think we prefer to go w/ a builder that specializes in tandems though.

Zoom-Zoom - I have met people who love their Co-Motion tandems. The models to choose from are confusing. We like to climb alot, & wonder if weight should be something we take into consideration more.

Serrota Jim, I can't thank you enough - who knew how expensive a tandem could be! Makes other bikes seem quite inexpensive! Yours is really georgeous though - wow! I bet it is fast and fun!

I'll keep you all posted - still trying to figure if DH can retire this spring, so $ is part of the equation! Tokie

[Kiwi Stoker]

I would look at Co-motion. For a few more dollars you can get them to custom fit a frame to you.

In regards to climbing and tandems- the thing that makes the most difference is the riders. Tandems will always climb slower than single bikes. Put two fit guys on a tandem and yes they will go. Improving fitness and losing weight off the riders would be the biggest improvement to climbing.

You are going to need a triple crank for climbing. Even a compact it's not going to do it unless you are elite riders.

[zoom-zoom]

I would look at Co-motion. For a few more dollars you can get them to custom fit a frame to you.

In regards to climbing and tandems- the thing that makes the most difference is the riders. Tandems will always climb slower than single bikes. Put two fit guys on a tandem and yes they will go. Improving fitness and losing weight off the riders would be the biggest improvement to climbing.

You are going to need a triple crank for climbing. Even a compact it's not going to do it unless you are elite riders.

But you will HAUL @SS down the hills!!! I can pass my hubby and kid on uphills, but on the downhills they blow by me like I'm standing still (and my son likes to make this face: ).

[Kiwi Stoker]

Yeah, we hit 103km per hour going down a certain hill. Lots and lots of fun!

[Jaclyn]

My husband and I sold our Santana a few years ago after we acquired a used Co-Motion Primera Co-pilot with the S&S couplers. We love the Co-motion. We feel it fits us better, has better handling, and take it apart often for travel. However, it is quite heavy. We use it for general riding, brevets (we completed the SR series of 200-600km rides on it the past two years), and both credit card and fully loaded touring.

Last year we added a Calfee carbon tandem to our fleet of bikes for fast club rides and hills.

Since you do not want carbon, I'd recommend the Co-Motion Speedster or Supremo for the lighter weight since you want to climb hills. We have friends who both of these and they are very happy with them. The Co-Pilot option is expensive but will allow you to travel easily - even by plane - with your bike. We took ours to France this year as well as many trips in the US without paying any additional charges.

I am 5-1/2 inches tall and both our small/small Co-motion and our medium/small Calfee fit me fine. Both have more room in the cockpit (by at least an inch) than our Santana Sovereign. As others mentioned, Co-motion will custom size your tandem for a small up charge.

If you are not in a hurry, I recommend checking eBay and the Tandem Magazine online classifieds weekly. If you are patient, you will find a used tandem with couplers for 1/2 to the 1/3 the price of a new one.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

[TsPoet]

If money were not an issue, I would love a Calfee. Not sure they make anything but carbon, though. I know two couples with Calfees, stunning doesn't cover it.

http://www.calfeedesign.com/products/tandem/

[malkin]

...who knew how expensive a tandem could be! Makes other bikes seem quite inexpensive!

When people ask, our stock answer is "We don't own a boat."

Another way to think of the expense is to compare it to other recreational vehicles.

[Tokie]

When we toured with our (ill-fitting)tandem in Alaska people in towns would pull up alongside in their cars & remark how fun our bike looked & how much did it cost? This was 1989. When we replied $1500.0, the response was inevitably quite disappointed. So I changed my response to $500.00. This answer made people very happy(they were in trucks/cars, & I doubt they were looking at the brand of the bike). We got really soaked riding into Talkeetna & passed by fishtailing oil tankers,busses & RVs gave us a few grey hairs! Tokie

[zoom-zoom]

When people ask, our stock answer is "We don't own a boat."

Another way to think of the expense is to compare it to other recreational vehicles.

Exactly. And ours don't require gas or docking fees.

[Tokie]

And you get healthy riding your tandem, whereas on a boat...isn't alot of it about drinking beer? (recent bumper sticker "give a dog a fish and he'll have dinner, teach a dog how to fish, and he'll spend all day on the boat drinking beer" or something like that) tokie