A month of cruising the tandems on my local CL has helped me a lot to understand the new and used markets both.
- A lot of the nice tandems for sale are older. I want to look out for one that is 8 speed or better. This will also give me indexing.
- Many mass market MTB style tandems have decent frames but dreadful cheap components. Grip shifters! Ugh. Might be one reason drop bar conversions are popular
- We'd be a heavy team. I'd want one with a drum brake.
- Many show up with a Yakima rack included or for sale along side. Definitely want this. Can ask for it if it's not mentioned.
- Although there are several sizes, they tend to have similar and kind of short top tube lengths for the captain. Fit is therefore going to be very adaptible but depend more on components (stem, bar, seatpost, saddle) than on the frame.
- Most decent things on CL are $1000+-500. More than that is probably something special, less is probably dreadful. But might also be ignorant seller.
- I have not yet figured out why, but it seems like most of the Santana and Burley tandems for sale are of the late-80's or early-90's vintage. Was there a tandem boom? Were they outcompeted by Trek and Cannondale in the 90's-00's?
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Genesis 49:16-17
Last edited by Darth Lefty; 05-18-15 at 06:01 PM.