One caution about going used: Many older tandems use semi-sloping dropouts. If the wheel is not held in place extremely securely, the torque from a tandem can pull it out of those dropouts, jamming against the chain stay and taking you down. This happened to us earlier this year on our '94 Burley Duet, climbing a very steep hill. We had replaced the bolt-on wheels that came with the bike with newer quick-release wheels, after the hubs wore out on the original wheels. But the skewers we were using on the new wheels were standard Salsa tandem skewers. Ex-post, Peter White says we either need bolt-on wheels or all-steel quick-release skewers that are tightened as hard as you can make them. Though all-steel tandem skewers are no longer made by "the usual suspects" it turns out you get get all-steel tandem skewers from the Bob trailer people. At some stage, we may decide to get vertical dropouts welded on to the Duet since we still feel a little insecure on steep climbs. Other than this one issue, the Burley Duet is a great tandem. It can take 700x32 tires with fenders (we run Panaracer Paselas most of the time, and Schwalbe Marathon's when we'll be using the sidewall dynamo a lot). In the last two years, we've ridden the Duet roughly 6000 miles, nearly all of it on century or longer rides. It's a very comfortable and stable tandem, though the frame is on the heavy side.
Another caution about going used is that some older tandems use 27" wheels and would be hard to upgrade to 700C because the cantilever bolts are most likely not in the right place. The Santana Elan is an otherwise really nice tandem (fillet brazed Columbus tubing) for which this may be an issue. Nick Bull On Nov 11, 2:39 pm, manueljohnacosta <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks for all the advice! > Great thing about this whole experience is that my girlfriend actually > wouldn't mind buying a tandem with me. So this might be in the near > future if we can find a used tandem our size or if Rivendell puts up > plans on making a tandem. Ultimately our goal is to go on a bike tour > together so plans on getting a tandem that not only has rack braze ons > but also is portable led me to this nifty tandem folder from Bike > Friday. > > http://community.bikefriday.com/twosday?styleId=0 > > Does any one have any experience with this tandem? > Also as a added bonus here was pictures of said ride. Our previous > experiences riding together ended up with us being very disconnected > because our different riding styles. I was either too bored of the > pace that we were going or the route would be too hard for her. > Previous attempts of riding "together" ended up in disaster when we > both fell trying to ride while holding hands ( We thought it was a > good idea at the time). So knowing that cycling was something we both > enjoyed but was hard to compromise we decided to rent a tandem. So off > we went to the city to rent a tandem bike from Blazing Saddles. Their > service was outstanding even if it seemed a little corny. Explaining > us the route and safety concerns like we weren't from there already. > The first few minutes of riding was shaking but once we got a hang of > it we started to have some fun. Our riding and our communication > seemed more in-sync and we both got to enjoy the beauty of riding > together. She enjoyed it so much that she wanted to try renting out > another one again. > > Pictures proved that it > happen.http://www.flickr.com/photos/mannyacosta/sets/72157625363002708/ > > Manny > > On Nov 11, 10:54 am, erik jensen <[email protected]> wrote: > > > perfect. > > > On Wed, Nov 10, 2010 at 11:34 PM, CycloFiend > > <[email protected]>wrote: > > > > Remember, where ever your relationship is going, a tandem will get it > > > there > > > faster... ;^) > > > > - Jim > > > > -- > > > oakland, ca > > bikenoir.blogspot.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
