We're thinking of getting a tandem, don't have much money, was wondering if the ultra cheap tandems such as this are any good? At that price, I'm not expecting it to be brilliant, but don't want to be completely frustrated. To begin with at least I'd expect to use it on canal towpaths and old railways, maybe some very light off-road use but certainly not technical trails – can't see us taking it to Penmachno or Gisburn.

Alternatively if anyone is considering selling a tandem, let me know. I'm 5'9", Mrs NBT is 5'4", we both have a 32" inseam.

Cheap ones tend to be heavy and flexy, with naff brakes and wheels. Everything you don't want really. I'd look 2nd hand to get you rolling with a view to upgrading

Been looking out but second-hand tandems are not common 🙁

It won't be much cop tho I have seen worse. Think £99 catalogue bike quality. It would give yo a taste of tandem riding but if you get into it you would soon outgrow that bike. No discs for example

Try the tandem club noticeboard for a secondhand decent one They are expensive beasts tho and rare on the secondhand market

That reminds me, I do have some spare disk brakes hanging around the garage so I could upgrade the brakes if the bike were disk ready

TandemJeremy – Member

It won't be much cop tho I have seen worse. Think £99 catalogue bike quality. It would give yo a taste of tandem riding but if you get into it you would soon outgrow that bike. No discs for example

Try the tandem club noticeboard for a secondhand decent one They are expensive beasts tho and rare on the secondhand market

And therein lies the rub, I'd love a Ventana full sus tandem or the like, but have limited funds

I looked at second hand but ended up getting a new Dawes from my LBS, a friend got a good second hand on on ebay though, so it is worth keeping a look out.

Innes

http://www.tandem-club.org.uk/_sboard.htm

Dawes double edge is probably the cheapest "real" tandem that can be upgraded

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/product/21940/Dawes_Double_Edge_Tandem_Bike_2010

Spot on from TJ. A bad tandem will turn you and partner off the idea really quick. They are really good fun, we love being out on ours, it's a great working as a team.

Double edge is the thick end of a grand though, we have maybe £300 to play with at the moment.

The problem is we only really fancy a tandem when Mrs NBT is not well and a tandem would allow us to go out together, at which point we start looking. Mrs NBT then gets better and we stop looking, not having bought one…

nbt – try hiring one first – or borrowing one. Whereabouts are you based? If you love it you might find the extra pennies

A secondhand dawes would be not too unaffordable

We're just outside manchester, so we can hire one easily enough at the Tissintgon Trail or JD cycles in Ilkley. Hiring @ £60 for the day though is one-third the price of buying…

Might mail Monksie though, I think he had a tandem I might be able to borrow…

IMO one of the biggest problems with £99 bikes is the way they are built up. An hour in the hands of a reasonable mechanic should see it fettled into something beter than the tat that rolls out of the door of Toys-R-Us / Asda etc etc. When I see some of the junk family / friends have bought their kids, & how a bit of work makes them loads better to ride. Should be reasonably able enough to handle a trundle along a tow-path.
That cheapo tandem above looks burly enough. I bet you'd get back most of what it cost if you flogged it on.

I've got two tandems which I was going to put up for sale over Easter.

One is a Dawes Double Edge which would fit you. The other is a Thorn Voyager child back if anyone is interested. The Dawes would be in your budget.

I can do pics etc, but am very busy at the moment and don't have a day off for a couple of weeks. Mail me if you are interested.

I'm located near Basingstoke.

Rich, have mailed you, cheers

I'm 5'9", Mrs NBT is 5'4", we both have a 32" inseam.

Did you meet in some crazy, long legged trouser shop? I mean you're bad enough but Mrs NBT is half leg!! 😉

STW / richt to the rescue!

Samuri – Women have proportionally longer legs than men for the same height 🙂

TJ – I was hoping for an offer like that, STW comes up trumps again

Well I ought to comment as unlike TJ, Bommer and mt. I actually own one of those reflex timberline tandems and it is pretty good. We bought ours from JE James in sheffield to replace a ££££ full suspension tandem that was stolen and unsuitable for mounting a child seat on the back. It was well put together and we have never had any problems with it. We have mostly used ours on offroad cycle paths, it coped fine with the rocky bridleway around the eastern side of Ladybower reservoir.

Pros

Very cheap.

Better build quality than a £99 catalogue bike more like a £200 solo

Stiff frame that can be ugraded with better components( I found a pair of Marzocchi Z1s and 20mm bolt thru front wheel for <£100 on Ebay)
mechanical front disk

Rear IS disc mount

Nutted front and rear axles(much stiffer than QR)

21 Speed so nice strong 7 speed chain not some flimsy 9speed rubbish

Cons

Crap saddles, get them changed by the shop for something comfy. Unless you want to get a "square bum" as my wife put it.

Single wall rims(though they have stayed true)

No choice of frame size. I'm 6'1" and a 450mm seatpost was just long enough on the max extension mark. But should be ok for you and Mrs NBT, go and sit on one before you buy.

Crap tyres, were only rated to 45psi which is not enough pressure to support 2 adults, these were immediately changed for some slightly worn out tyres from my MTB that could go to 65PSI

nbt – Member The problem is we only really fancy a tandem when Mrs NBT is not well and a tandem would allow us to go out together,

This is exactly why we bough one. Mrs BOCW had a ankle injury and couldn't walk or ride a bike on her own, but still wanted to get outdoors for some gentle exercise.

me and my ex bought a dawes twocan back in sept. i'm 6 foot, she is 5, so we were really lucky to find a 2nd hand one in a lbs which fitted.

we'd been talking for a while about getting one, and i'd happened to pop tot he shop to get a cable when we saw it. test rode it quickly, went home (in the car), got the bus back to the shop and cycled it home.

we got it due to my then GFs illness too, however she soon got into mtbing a bit, and so we've not used it a huge amount. it is great fun though.

ours is a relatively cheap leisure type tandem, not quite up to off road. we may think about heading off on it for a week or so once we've finished uni (as friends), but after that i've no ide what we'll do with it 🙁

my other tandem experiences are based on an upgraded Viking tandem a friend got off ebay – he added better wheels, brakes and gears, and now has susp fork too. i've pilotted it around GT red, which was incredible, as well as a couple of rides around stirling.

once i've a job, some money and a partner, i'll be really tempted to get a proper off road tandem myself…

they're awesome.

I stand corrected Mr Balls and you are right. Still reckon that it's really easy to be put of tandem ownership if your first experiance is on a bike not really up to the job. You have have had other tandems know what to sort out. Our fist tandem was a Dawes with a steel frame set up for road and smoothish of road stuff, it was good enough and cheap enough for starting out. We have ended up with a 2nd hand Cannondale that is a fantastic machine, what a revelation it was on our first ride.

NBT If you and your partner stick at it you'll have loads of fun, can recomend touring on a tandem. The stoker needs a thick skin, if we had a quid for the "she's not pedalling" comments we would now own a Ventana full sus tandem. One small but important bit of advice, don't ever miss a chance to stand up. Your arse will thank you.

ballsofcottonwool, thanks for that, interesting, will see how RichT's offer pans out but will bear the cheaper tandem in mind

nbt, if RichT's offer doesn't work out, I too have a disc Dawes Double Edge available for sale.

psling, feel free to mail pics and details – mail in profile 🙂 Rich has been incontact and is away for a fortnight so it'll be a while before he can get details to me

I have an 2005 Dawes Discovery if you're interested. 17"/15". Well used but serivceable (sp)

Daisy, send me some pics and details if you'd be so kind please – email address in profile. ta!

On the subject, does anyone have a decent one that'd fit me 6'2" and partner e' 7"? No serious off roadness ability needed, just pootling about 🙂 Email in profile – cash ready.

deepreddave, assuming that e' 7" is really 4'7", you might want to ask RichT about his childback tandem, there was a childback tandem on the classified a few days ago too

I have a Dawes Discovery Twin (same frame as Double Edge with slightly cheaper bits)in mint condition that I'm planning on getting rid of. I'm 6'2" and the wife is 5' odd, fits us fine.

doh! e'7" was meant to be 5'7" 🙁

mattbee – you're miles away but if you're planning a trip to the lakes and can fit it in the car let me know please.