Originally Posted by
Leisesturm
I am biased against those 'hybrid' tandems on principle. Either both riders get to enjoy the yummy recumbent goodness like we do on our
recumbent tandem, or neither one does. Only seems fair. Perhaps unfairly, the hybrid tandem has become associated with juvenile or special needs Stoker and I can't fully shake that stigmatization. The hybrid tandem design does, however, solve some problems for the o.p. and his gf. Performer makes a
'Family Tandem' that is a knock-off of the much more expensive
Hase Pino that might not cost much more than $1000.
Have you ever seen one in person or ridden one?
Semi-recumbent tandems like the Hase Pino ($4k and above) or Performer Family Tandem ($1600) are better than traditional tandems because both the captain and stoker have full view of scenery, traditional tandem on allow the stoker to stare into the back of the captain.
Semi-recumbent tandems are likely more compact, weigh less, take up less storage room, easier to transport than regular tandem.
Stigmatization occur only when people don't know the advantages of semi-recumbent tandems over regular tandems, similarly regular bicycle vs recumbent bicycle in general.
If you have never tried one, claims you made about them are just speculation.