CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
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not resolvedMr SRD was talking with someone today who wanted a tandem but said that all the ones linked to on recent CTC publication were pricey as in over £2000.
Obviously Helios is pricey, but not that bad. And there's eBay. Thought crowriver might want to throw up a link to his new bike?
(apparently this guy used to be in CCE but fled our outpourings...us? Too verbose? Well, anyway, here's a thread in case he takes his life into his own hands and comes back).
"us? Too verbose?"
Yeah.
Need more oneliners...
No, she went of her own accord.
Lovely place for a honeymoon, and cheap during the hurricane season...
Robert
Now I'm really confused! :-s
See here for some entry level tandems under £1600
http://www.tandems.co.uk/m3b0s76p0/Tandems/Tandems-%A31600-and-under
"Now I'm really confused! :-s"
You will be if you look at the rest of this site -
Ahhh, I see (eventually!)
Mine is a Raleigh Adventurer. Very affordable.
However, a quick search reveals that Raleigh appear to have discontinued this model for 2013. Out of stock in most outlets, even Halfords don't have any (they did last year). There are a few mail order places that still have it in stock apparently, try a Googol 'shopping' search.
Alternatives include the similar, slightly cheaper, but not identical Viking tandems. All rigid MTB style with 26" wheels. These were mostly unavailable last year or I would have considered them. The Viking Serengeti is the nearest to the Raleigh, with disc brakes. Slightly different 'ladyback' alloy frame and hi-tensile forks (the Raleigh has CroMo forks), smaller disc rotors, but pretty similar spec otherwise. A fair bit cheaper too.
If V brakes are acceptable (could always add a rear disc brake as a 'drag' brake) then Viking have an even cheaper tandem, the Valhalla; and the near identical Timber Trail. They also have the steel gas pipe framed Timberwolf as their bargain basement option. I've seen one of these locked to railings in the Southside somewhere last year and it looked okay.
Viking also do/did a 700c wheeled 'touring' tandem complete with rear carrier and mudguards: the Aviemore. Not much use for a child stoker, but a useful option for two adults. Not sure how easily available it is though.
If you want something with a better reputation and higher quality, but under a grand the Dawes Duet is worth a look. Alloy frame, V brakes, rear carrier, mudguards. There's a childback version available too.
I'd guess the pricey ones were Thorn? A scan of SJS Cycles site has a few that are reaching to three grand. Rohloff hub, though.
Thorn don't sell off-the-peg bikes, they build to the customer's specification and they build them all in England, so they're always going to be pricey.
They used to build the frames in England, but I understand Thorn frames are made in Taiwan now, like most quality bike frames (that are not from a custom builder like Mercian, Bob Jackson, Dave Yates, etc). It's not just Thon, allegely Hewitt frames are made in Taiwan too.
@Uberuce I take it that you haven't noticed the £10k Santanas on the link I posted earlier !
@crowriver - indeed I inferred that from the careful wording on their website that bikes were "made to customers specifications and hand assembled in England" or something like that. Not quite hand built in the UK, but somewhere close to it.
I did a search last year sometime on Ebay and they were S/H around 400 but obviously needing a little TLC and in somecases new wheels and drivechain, but so long as the frame isn't shot I imagine its not too expensive to bring one up to date. I've been thinking of getting one but can't justify the expenditure.
Factor in extra cost for tandem drivetrains and wheels vs. prices you may be more familiar wtih - the former obviously has more moving parts and length of chain than a regular bike and the latter need to be signigicantly stronger (after all there's potentially the weight of 2 adults, a heavy frame and double load of luggage to consider)
But think how much you'll save on busfares!
I have avoided tandems all my life, but if I had young children now I would definitely have a Helios.
So much better than trailer bikes.
As k. says - beware secondhand for the (cost of) the bits you might have to replace.
There was a time when tandems were SO expensive that respectable companies like Peugeot produced 'affordable' versions with normal (single) bike wheels (steel rims!) and brakes.
Best avoided unless you want 'a bit of fun' and live somewhere flat.
Is the strength/diameter relationship for wheels quadratic, linear or ITYFIMCTT, I ponder...
Speaking of wheels, the only 'budget' tandem I listed above with proper tandem wheels is the Dawes: it has 40 spoke hubs and rims. My Raleigh is built around 36 spoke MTB wheels. As it has been restricted to child stoking duties, the wheel strength has not been an issue so far. I've loaded up the panniers on the rear carrier with shopping too.
Touch wood, so far I've never had an issue with wheel strength on any of my bikes. I did fully loaded touring with No.1 son on a Bobike seat, on my Globe hybrid which has 32 spoke wheels.....mind you most of the heavy luggage was on the trailer behind us. Reckon I could go touring on the tandem with my son without too many issues.
I'm not sure I would do heavily laden touring on the tandem with Mrs crowriver as stoker: not just the wheel strength, getting up the hills would be hard work! And the descents...
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