We bought our one and only tandem when I was 62 We went on our first tandem tour when I was 65 and my wife was 61. We aren't a strong team, but we get down the road OK. We bought a used Speedster because we wanted to be able to sport ride with singles and wanted a high quality bike that we could also take touring. We needed a bike that would go as fast as possible for the money we had to spend on it. It did all that in fine style.
I learned to speak Czech when I was in the army. For decades it had been our dream to take an unsupported drinking and cycling tour of the Cech Republic, We couldn't figure out how we could do it because neither of us had a suitable bike and my wife is much less strong than I. Then I thought of a tandem. Czech tour done, along with some US touring. Again, because of cost we didn't get a coupled tandem, but our standard Speedster flew just fine in a custom box I made.
We didn't take fenders touring and were glad we didn't. It's normal in an elevator to stand a bike up on its rear wheel, plus less to pack and deal with. We stayed in paid lodging every 3rd or 4th night. We use deep section alu wheels and CX-Ray spokes and as fast a tire as is suitable for the terrain, from 28mm to 32mm.. We don't find the bike to be at all tiring other than to our legs. Our bike being older, has rim V-brakes. For touring, we switch to a rear wheel with an Arai drum, bought back when they could be found.
Our Speedster is a little unusual for its birth date (2003), having a WoundUp carbon fork, which has no eyelets for racks. Turned out, we only needed 2 panniers, the rack top, a frame bag, and a bar bag. For camping gear, we used our usual backpacking equipment. We use a stock Tubus SS rack and rip-stop panniers.
The bike is still in very good shape, runs like a train. I think the frame, fork, captain's bars, seat posts, stoker stem, right brifter, and rear derailleur are the only things left from the bike we bought. It's good to try to wear your bike out.
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