Couplers or no couplers
04-07-17, 12:08 PM
#26
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oldacura,
I've shipped singles from Houston to Breck for $35 each way on Bikeflights before. Granted that it was during one of their specials, but $170 one way seems excessive to me.
pdlpsher,
If you're going to travel with your bike at all, get the couplers. We have tandems with and without couplers, but the one we invariably take on trips is the one with. The standard 62 linear inch cases is also the way to go. Rental cars, ubers, buses, trains, and planes are non issue. We have taken a few trips in propeller props where the large full size case would have been a big problem. My 110lb wife can handle the cases by herself if needed, and I do like having my bike with me at all time.
On the other hand, don't people travel to Loveland just to bike? We're hoping to wander up there someday during one of our Colorado trips. In the mean time, see you in Seattle. We too have given up on taking our teenage boy on long bike trips with us.
CJ
I've shipped singles from Houston to Breck for $35 each way on Bikeflights before. Granted that it was during one of their specials, but $170 one way seems excessive to me.
pdlpsher,
If you're going to travel with your bike at all, get the couplers. We have tandems with and without couplers, but the one we invariably take on trips is the one with. The standard 62 linear inch cases is also the way to go. Rental cars, ubers, buses, trains, and planes are non issue. We have taken a few trips in propeller props where the large full size case would have been a big problem. My 110lb wife can handle the cases by herself if needed, and I do like having my bike with me at all time.
On the other hand, don't people travel to Loveland just to bike? We're hoping to wander up there someday during one of our Colorado trips. In the mean time, see you in Seattle. We too have given up on taking our teenage boy on long bike trips with us.
CJ
04-07-17, 12:44 PM
#27
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This brings up another curiosity for me: I just sold a single road bike on eBay. I'm shipping it from Denver to Los Angeles. The box is 33 pounds and 58" x 31" x 9". The best deal I could find was FedEx at $170. How can anyone (distributors, etc.) afford to ship a bike? Is there some secret way that I don't know about?
I do not know what sized bike you shipped, but I found that when the box size goes over 28" (tall) the cost really goes up. also bike boxes are typically seven - seven point five inches wide. Fed ex usually rounds the measurement to the next higher inch. When you said nine inches wide, it was bumped up to ten inches. No bike box I can recall is nearly that wide (12 years as a store owner) Try 28" x 58" x 7"
04-07-17, 05:01 PM
#28
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Loveland is between Fort Collins and Boulder. So yes, we do enjoy it here and we can offer riding route advice to those wishing to visit Colorado. I live on the west side of Loveland and next to Carter Lake. There are plenty of route options without having to transport our tandem.
Tomorrow my wife and I are planning to ride the mountains south of Denver, on a route called the Deer Creek Canyon loop. I have ridden it many times on my single bike but never on a tandem. It's 33 miles with 4,150' of elevation gain.
For many personal reasons I think the non-coupled bike is the best way to go. We were planning on selling our 2012 Team Scandium to a friend for $3,500. We would lose $4,000 in depreciation as we paid $7,500 in 2012. Upon finding out that couplings will add almost $3,000 to the cost of our new Ti tandem I came up with an idea. Instead of selling our Team Scandium for $3,500 I would rather keep the bike and forgo the $3,000 worth of couplings and case on the Ti. The Ti bike will become an exclusive non-travel bike. It will stay home and we will enjoy it year-round....and with the knowledge that the bike is as light it can be without the couplers. The weight difference might be small and negligible, however I'm a weight freak and having a lighter bike will provide me with a psychological advantage, no doubt. Between the hassles of flying a non-coupled bike and getting the lightest bike possible, one without couplers that we can enjoy the weight savings year-round, I'd pick the latter. Our Team Scandium will become our spare and travel bike. I would not lose sleep should something bad happens to my Team Scandium on the trip....as I know my primary Ti bike is safe and sound sitting at home
Tomorrow my wife and I are planning to ride the mountains south of Denver, on a route called the Deer Creek Canyon loop. I have ridden it many times on my single bike but never on a tandem. It's 33 miles with 4,150' of elevation gain.
For many personal reasons I think the non-coupled bike is the best way to go. We were planning on selling our 2012 Team Scandium to a friend for $3,500. We would lose $4,000 in depreciation as we paid $7,500 in 2012. Upon finding out that couplings will add almost $3,000 to the cost of our new Ti tandem I came up with an idea. Instead of selling our Team Scandium for $3,500 I would rather keep the bike and forgo the $3,000 worth of couplings and case on the Ti. The Ti bike will become an exclusive non-travel bike. It will stay home and we will enjoy it year-round....and with the knowledge that the bike is as light it can be without the couplers. The weight difference might be small and negligible, however I'm a weight freak and having a lighter bike will provide me with a psychological advantage, no doubt. Between the hassles of flying a non-coupled bike and getting the lightest bike possible, one without couplers that we can enjoy the weight savings year-round, I'd pick the latter. Our Team Scandium will become our spare and travel bike. I would not lose sleep should something bad happens to my Team Scandium on the trip....as I know my primary Ti bike is safe and sound sitting at home
04-08-17, 02:35 AM
#29
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pdlpsher,
Sounds like you have good plan in place.
An alternative if you ever change your mind, is to have your scandium retrofitted with couplers. Also, have you looked into a great small titanium builder in Steamboat Springs by the name of Eriksen? We're really happy with the one he built for us.
CJ
Sounds like you have good plan in place.
An alternative if you ever change your mind, is to have your scandium retrofitted with couplers. Also, have you looked into a great small titanium builder in Steamboat Springs by the name of Eriksen? We're really happy with the one he built for us.
CJ
04-08-17, 06:02 AM
#30
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pdlpsher,
Sounds like you have good plan in place.
An alternative if you ever change your mind, is to have your scandium retrofitted with couplers. Also, have you looked into a great small titanium builder in Steamboat Springs by the name of Eriksen? We're really happy with the one he built for us.
CJ
Sounds like you have good plan in place.
An alternative if you ever change your mind, is to have your scandium retrofitted with couplers. Also, have you looked into a great small titanium builder in Steamboat Springs by the name of Eriksen? We're really happy with the one he built for us.
CJ
We've been flying with it a lot scouting for our Adventures In Tandem tours. Having been through many airports now though I can say I would not want to have to deal with an uncoupled tandem cardboard box though. Amazing how much you have to carry your luggage around in some airports. and then there is rental cars. We usually rent the tiniest hatchback they have, flip the back seats down and throw the bike in. That would work for the S&S cases also. Good luck with the cardboard box.
I keep telling people to buy a used coupled bike (I like Co-Motions) and If you don't like it, sell it. You'll pretty much get all of your money back. Check the classified site mentioned above and the Tandem Club of America classifieds. Tandemclub dot org. Coupled bikes come up much more often there than on eBay or Craigslist.
04-09-17, 05:56 AM
#31
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Hi Mike,
Good to hear from you. We may be joining you in Banf next year. My wife and kid absolutely loved that ride the last time we did it. If only I can convince my son to do it again.
Anyway, Eriksen was very accommodating with our bike. I just asked for that second set of couplers and he built it that way. Two 62 inchers for me.
You traveled with a lot of tandem people. How often do you see non-coupled bikes?
Good to hear from you. We may be joining you in Banf next year. My wife and kid absolutely loved that ride the last time we did it. If only I can convince my son to do it again.
Anyway, Eriksen was very accommodating with our bike. I just asked for that second set of couplers and he built it that way. Two 62 inchers for me.
You traveled with a lot of tandem people. How often do you see non-coupled bikes?
04-09-17, 06:21 AM
#32
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There is plenty of room in 2 26x26x10" cases for racks and fenders. I put front and rear rack, front and rear fenders, cycling shoes, water bottles, saddles, and a lot of other odds and ends into the case which holds the 2 wheels. The frame and drive train goes into one of the cases. The amount of stuff I can throw into the wheel case is limited by weight (23Kg),
Card board boxes do NOT offer the same level of protection as a hard case regardless of size. You woulld have to add a lot of reinforcement to a cardboard box to allow it to handle being dropped from height ie. fall off the elevator from 6' up.
Flying full sized tandems will get to be more and more of a pain over time as the baggage rules are tightened.
Yes, it is cheaper not to add the couplers and buy the cases. For you the hassle at the airport and to/from the airport may be worthwhile. Each to their own.
Card board boxes do NOT offer the same level of protection as a hard case regardless of size. You woulld have to add a lot of reinforcement to a cardboard box to allow it to handle being dropped from height ie. fall off the elevator from 6' up.
Flying full sized tandems will get to be more and more of a pain over time as the baggage rules are tightened.
Yes, it is cheaper not to add the couplers and buy the cases. For you the hassle at the airport and to/from the airport may be worthwhile. Each to their own.
Safecase vs. two S&S couplers. There would be baggage fees associated with a Safecase but it seems a Safecase offers better bike protection with the use of shaped foam. No fees on the two S&S cases provided they are less than 10" thick. To my knowledge there's no room in either for a rack.
Safecase vs. full-sized tandem box and no couplers. Same cost to fly either but the full-size tandem box is a nightmare once it's on the ground. It seems that a full-sized tandem box offers very good bike protection. So the bike will get there just fine under either option.
Two S&S cases vs. full-sized tandem box. The coupler option would cost almost $3,000 more once taxes are added. The same for the Safecase. A carboard tandem box is free...it comes with one on my new tandem. I may get several uses out of it by strapping it down securely. There's room inside the tandem box for a rack, helmets, shoes, etc.
I do like the idea of couplers however $3,000 is a lot of money and it will take many trips to recoup the investment. If the cost is more reasonable like $1,500 then it would be a no-brainer.
It seems to me that many tandems are flown not having couplers so I do think it's a viable alternative to having couplers, provided that the trip has ground support to handle a large tandem box. It's likely that I won't do any 'credit card' type touring on my own in the foreseeable future.
Safecase vs. full-sized tandem box and no couplers. Same cost to fly either but the full-size tandem box is a nightmare once it's on the ground. It seems that a full-sized tandem box offers very good bike protection. So the bike will get there just fine under either option.
Two S&S cases vs. full-sized tandem box. The coupler option would cost almost $3,000 more once taxes are added. The same for the Safecase. A carboard tandem box is free...it comes with one on my new tandem. I may get several uses out of it by strapping it down securely. There's room inside the tandem box for a rack, helmets, shoes, etc.
I do like the idea of couplers however $3,000 is a lot of money and it will take many trips to recoup the investment. If the cost is more reasonable like $1,500 then it would be a no-brainer.
It seems to me that many tandems are flown not having couplers so I do think it's a viable alternative to having couplers, provided that the trip has ground support to handle a large tandem box. It's likely that I won't do any 'credit card' type touring on my own in the foreseeable future.
04-09-17, 06:30 AM
#33
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I believe it was Dwan at Co-Motion who said, to paraphrase, retrofit couplers is not as nice as installing the couplers at build time. The reason is simply that a fully built frame may have tubes which are under tension. Cutting the tubes to install the couplers, while perfectly do-able, may result in the 2 halves of a coupler not being in perfect alignment. My custom tandem (built by someone else) suffers from this. One of the 5 couplers requires a bit force to force into alignment so it can be screwed together.
pdlpsher,
Sounds like you have good plan in place.
An alternative if you ever change your mind, is to have your scandium retrofitted with couplers. Also, have you looked into a great small titanium builder in Steamboat Springs by the name of Eriksen? We're really happy with the one he built for us.
CJ
Sounds like you have good plan in place.
An alternative if you ever change your mind, is to have your scandium retrofitted with couplers. Also, have you looked into a great small titanium builder in Steamboat Springs by the name of Eriksen? We're really happy with the one he built for us.
CJ
04-10-17, 05:29 AM
#34
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Hi Mike,
Good to hear from you. We may be joining you in Banf next year. My wife and kid absolutely loved that ride the last time we did it. If only I can convince my son to do it again.
Anyway, Eriksen was very accommodating with our bike. I just asked for that second set of couplers and he built it that way. Two 62 inchers for me.
You traveled with a lot of tandem people. How often do you see non-coupled bikes?
Good to hear from you. We may be joining you in Banf next year. My wife and kid absolutely loved that ride the last time we did it. If only I can convince my son to do it again.
Anyway, Eriksen was very accommodating with our bike. I just asked for that second set of couplers and he built it that way. Two 62 inchers for me.
You traveled with a lot of tandem people. How often do you see non-coupled bikes?
Haven't seen too many people travel with an uncoupled tandem, but a few. While certainly doable, there are some hassles (see my prior msg). I know a team that have brought their uncoupled Ventana el Conquistador de Montanas to South Africa 3 times now in a special corrugated plastic box they made for it. Multi day mountain bike events are really big there.
Whatever you decide, it's all good as long as you are out there riding together.
04-10-17, 09:48 AM
#35
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Thanks everyone! I had to get to ten posts before I could post a URL or respond to private messages!
I spoke to my local shop's owner on the new Santana Flightcase and he said this new box is awesome. It has special compartments inside to protect the bike. He saw it in person at the 2017 NAHBS. Here's a link that illustrates the packing process: Packing Airline Flight Case
I won't be too worried about bike damage as I won't be flying my new Ti bike. I'll be using the Team Scandium as my travel bike.
I spoke to my local shop's owner on the new Santana Flightcase and he said this new box is awesome. It has special compartments inside to protect the bike. He saw it in person at the 2017 NAHBS. Here's a link that illustrates the packing process: Packing Airline Flight Case
I won't be too worried about bike damage as I won't be flying my new Ti bike. I'll be using the Team Scandium as my travel bike.
