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A cautionary note about buying a used tandem: I read ads for about two years looking for a used tandem for my wife and myself and never found one that accommodates our respective sizes. It is amazing how few tandems (especially high end ones!) are in the market that accommodate people of less than average height.

My wife is 5 ft tall, I am 5 ft 11 and there just were't any used tandems available in our size. We ended up buying the Trek T900 which is a good bike for beginners, very sturdy and stable though certainly not high end, rather a bit like an SUV. Later we added a KHS T20 ("sausage dog", their folding tandem) to the "fleet", also a good bike though not high end, hardly lighter than the Trek because of its steel frame but much smaller (more than a foot shorter), somewhat twitchy (like most folding bikes), the other extreme from the Trek. We prefer it for climbs.

Another note (some hints have already been given): The more experienced a solo rider the stoker is the more difficulty you will likely have to get together as a team (the captain almost has to be experienced since (one of) his job(s) is to operate in traffic). In our case I was a life long rider (though never a high end component type, more an errand running biker than a tourer or racer), my wife learned to ride a solo bike at 50 and never completely got the hang of it (hard to understand but there it is) which made it hard for us to ride solo together. We got used to riding the tandem together within a few miles. She is very happy on her stoker seat and the only things she objects to is a very high cadence and too few rests because of her butt (for those who don't yet know: The stoker gets the brunt of pot holes etc., sitting right above the rear wheel and being unprepared for them unless warned by the captain. For the captain on the other hand it is more comfortable than a solo bike).

One more thing: You need good brakes. Our Trek came from the factory with brake pads that were unable to stop the bike on a moderately steep downhill. This can get dangerous. We bought higher end pads and it is fine now but pay attention to this when you buy a tandem.