jnbrown

Does anybody know of of a place in Maui where we can rent a road tandem? We used to rent from West Maui Cycles but they no longer have a tandem.
Would like to do the West Maui loop that we have done several times before.

Thanks

jnbrown

124Spider

You're brave, cycling on those roads; I have always felt a bit exposed even running on those roads!

Mark

jnbrown

Well we did the ride yesterday. Starting from Kapalua and riding clockwise around the island. It was raining as we left and that persisted for about 45 minutes. My wife wore a plastic trash bag to keep the water and road grime off her back. Our progress was slower than in the past, due to we are not so young anymore and the bike was slower. At one point there is a wall about 18% and we walked up it as we usually have done. Shortly after that we were going up a short steep hill and as I attempted to shift into a lower gear the chain lost contact with the cassette and we fell over. Luckily we were barely moving and we landed on the shoulder which had soft grass. After that I decided to leave it in the small chainring for the remaining Big Sur like terrain so we had to coast at speeds above maybe 12 mph. Eventually the sun came out but there was also had some clouds which was good so we did not get too hot. As we made it about 2/3 of the way around the island it became apparent that we were running out of time and we were both beat up because the bike was so uncomfortable. We could not stand because of the handlebar configuration. Usually at this point in the ride there can be
a strong headwind but it wasn't too bad. We had our daughter pick us up in Lahaina. All in all still a spectacular ride but we probably won't be doing it again a rented tandem.

Nick & Chris

We were also riding tandem on Maui when you were there. We shipped our tandem there ahead of us from our bike shop in Fresno to West Maui Cycles. West Maui Cycles were great in putting it back together for us and then shipping in back home when we were done. Didn't take it with us because didn't want to lug it around the whole trip as we were going to another island where we weren't planning to ride. I agree with 124Spider about the roads. The West Maui loop had way too much traffic for my comfort. Bike shop said the only nice road route they knew of with very low traffic on Maui was the "upcountry" route on East Maui. They were right about that as it was a nice ride there and you could see it was popular with the local riders. Main reason for taking the tandem was to ride up Haleakala. Traffic on the Haleakala climb wasn't too bad and the drivers considerate. Photo of us on top of Haleakala on the "pictures of happy tandem couples" thread.

ridesmartmaui

Aloha! If you are looking for a Tandem Electric bike you can contact RideSmart Maui Electric bikes on the West side. Unfortunately Tandem Ebike will not handle the West Maui Loop. But many visitors use the Tandem Ebike to explore Maui. There is a great blog post Exploring Maui on a Tandem Ebike.

NewTandem

Good luck and be safe!

NewTandem

Good luck, have fun and please be safe

colombo357

I did the West Maui Loop alone about a year ago. Experience was similar, started at the Ritz Kapalua and it was heavy rain all the way to Mendes Ranch.

From there it was nice until I got to the 30 junction with the wind turbines. Then it was mild headwinds up until Lahaina, followed by heavy headwinds from Kaanapali back to Kapalua.

Not a huge fan of the loop. If I were to do it all over, I'd probably ride from Kapalua clockwise to Wailuku, over and back. I'll take climbing with intermittent shade and rain over full sun exposure and headwinds all day long.