TJKnight

Hi All. I am 44 and ride my road bike about 150 miles/week. My daughter is 7, 4'6" (and growing), and can ride 6 miles. I want to get a tandem for us. Do you have any advice on brand, model, and fitting? Also, can I get something for under $1,000?

Thanks,
TJ

mje

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes.../tandem/t_900/

https://www.co-motion.com/index.php/t...ng_as_a_family

LuckySailor

CoMotion under a grand- I DON'T THINK SO!

If you want a tandem under a grand, it would depend on what quality level you want. You can get a Pacific dualie off ebay for well under a grand. But it will be a heavy cruiser, and will definitly need to be adjusted and dialed in when you get it. However, I picked up a 10 year old Cannondale with XT and XTR components for $1100, and it is in beautiful condition. The seller told me about 7 years old, but I'm pretty sure its 10 maybe more. But that's ok, age doesn't matter if the components are in nice shape and you're not buying a worn out piece of junk. Check Craigslist, and ebay. I got mine off Craigslist. When I was looking there were lots in CA, and AZ. Just be patient. My daughter (13) too embarrassed to get on our tandem most of the time. Just the age I guess. We always thought it was kool when I was her age as did all my friends cause they all wanted to ride it too! Also, better to buy now (if you can find what you're looking for) because in the spring the prices go up but so does the selection. Have fun my friend!

dcrowell

I bought an older Trek T900 used for $300. The stoker position works well for a large range of heights.

mje

It could happen. This is not a periscope, but its not much more than a kilobuck. https://floridatandemclub.org/forum/v...c.php?f=6&t=20

SuperJETT

Most people will say buy used at that price point, but you'll be hard pressed to find one in decent shape at that price point that also fits that small of a stoker.

I have a Giordano Viaggio (hate that name) off Amazon that was $500 that works well enough once you fix a few issues and all 3 of our kids--12,9,8 years old--can ride with me just fine even with the Brooks Springer on back which is a good 1-1.5" taller than a normal saddle. It's listed as a 16" stoker size but I feel it's smaller than that based on how they fit.

$500 for bike, $75 for brakes, $20 for brake pads, $10 for rim tape, $250 for Brooks saddles, used pedals that I had, plus a bunch of self-labor equals a decent bike with nice 7005 aluminum frame. It worked for us since there are few used tandems around.

mwandaw

Here's another vote for the Trek T900. I think it is the least expensive good quality tandem out there. As mentioned above, the stoker compartment can be adjusted for a very wide range of sizes.

We put some road tires on our T900, swapped out the seats and rode it for thousands of miles. We even rode it for a while with the Orange County Rebels and surprised a lot of riders with our quick riding. We had no reliability or maintenance problems, and it was always as steady as a rock.

Ours was in very good condition when we sold it for $600 on Craigslist a year and a half ago.

Getting your daughter to ride it is another question!

Tom Spohn

Bike Friday Tandem is very adjustable, front and rear, and has a very low step over height.

Standalone 

old burley.

B. Carfree

Get anything and use a removable child's crank. We did this on our touring tandem when riding longer distances with our son than our old Huffy tandem that had been converted to rear-steer was up to. (We solved the reach issues by attaching some aero bars to the stoker bars.) We still have both that tandem and the kiddie crank and they are set to be put back into use by a friend and his young daughter this spring.

You can make your own child's crank with a discarded bike and a bit of ingenuity if cost is an issue.

turkey9186

I have a 2001 Burley Duet with a Softride beam for the stoker. If you watch Craigslist and Ebay, they show up a couple times a year in $500-$700 range.
I added crank arm shortners and an adjustable stoker stem.
JB

DrMarkR

If you find one, and need a kiddie stoker kit, I've got one I recently took off our triplet. I'll make you a deal on the thing...!

BeginnerCycling

I've got an 8 year old and a 10 year old, and wanted to find a tandem we could try out -- but easy on the budget because I wasn't sure if they would want to ride it. Ended up buying a Fito Folding Tandem from BikeBuyers.com for less than $500. It's a 7 speed cruiser bike, and I've actually been pretty pleased with the quality. Two things I liked over other cheap tandems: (1) independent pedaling (kids can coast while I pedal, and vice versa); and (2) it folds, so can be carried on normal bike rack.

I've made a few cheap mods -- replace the front V-brake with a $15 Shimano, and both brake levers with a $20 Avid set, which helped stopping a lot. Also replaced the tractor seats with $16 Avenir MTB saddles which are much better. Overall, the bike is great for the intended purposes, and has been a big hit -- so I've added fenders and a Topeak rack so we could run errands. My 8 year old woke me up this morning asking if we could ride the tandems on a donut run. Everytime I ask him if he likes the tandem he says "I LOVE it!". Priceless.

ScottCarney

It's much maligned, but I am a fan of the tag-along. My older boy and I toured Holland with me on a cross-bike and him on a trek tag-along with 6 speed drive train when he was 6y/o. Our longest day was 200km and we averaged nearly 100 km/day. He loved it. I loved it. You could buy 4 of them in your budget. We also used to take the tag-along out behind my mountain bike for some fairly challenging rides. Just before he turned 8 I got a really good deal on a Davinci 700c road tandem (still way outside your budget). We still used the tag along for a couple of seasons of mountain biking after that. I recommend the tag along as it will probably be useful to you another season or two (that's a tall girl you have there) in which time you might be able to 1. save to up the budget a bit and 2. really figure out if she'll love a real tandem. When I bit the bullet on the davinci I was confident it would get a lot of milage (and 3 years on now, I was right). That makes it a lot easier to dig deep.

I concur with the other posts that if you're set on a real tandem now for under a grand, used trek/burley/c-dale is the way to go. Good luck.

WPH

KHS Milano or Fuji Absolute Le - both light modern 700c bikes which come with short stoker cockpits depending on the size you get. Possible you'd need to get an adjustable stoker stem if the standard item is not long enough. My brother got his Milano for $600 and we bought our Fuji for $675, both 2nd hand and in very good condition off ebay. And remember those purchases were made in Australia where good tandems are harder to find than in N America.

My 11 year old stepdaughter likes riding the Fuji with either me or her mum sometimes, enjoys it when it's fast. We try and do as much as we can before she rejects the whole idea as too daggy someday soon. My 3 year old son is keen to ride on the T200 with me when we install the kiddy cranks in the next few months.

SuperJETT

For everyone still commenting, the OP has left the building apparently...

DrMarkR

According to his profile, he was "in the building" at 8:45PM tonight....?

SuperJETT

Yes, and when I posted that he had been online recently as well without an update here. Ask for advice, advice is given, no response, lame.

TJKnight

The Fito looks good, and has an affordable price point. I have yet to buy a used bike on craigslist or eBay. Thanks for the recommendations.