Really fancy getting a tandem for me and the OH and have spent the last few weeks looking at different options.

Keeping my eye out for something second hand and if something half decent comes up I can see me jumping on it! Initially thinking something like a Dawes double edge that I can upgrade but the wonder of the internet now has me hankering after a Powderkeg, Cahoot or Landscape!

Show me your pics and give me your tips! If you actually have one you want to sell on then give me a shout.

STW did an article about a custom Turner Tandom many years ago, always wanted one…..

Any reason you didn’t mention Ventana there? Also, might help if you said where you were located, there’s a few MTB tandemers scattered around who might have something to show. I don’t think you’ll find much to look at in a shop.

Best fun ever on a bike but not all couples can get on with one so I always say ” try before you buy”

Whereabouts in the country are you? – anywhere near Edinburgh you can have a shot on ours. JD tandems in ilkley seems to be the go to shop but I have not used them. A number of shops will do a try before yo buy deal. Check the tandem club website for shops / hire places. We had a couple of weekends and a weeks hols on hired ones before we took the plunge

Dawes double edge is a fine starting point. a few around so a secondhand one should crop up but secondhand prices are high. Ventana ECDM is the go to full sus tandem. MTB tandems in the states do their own frames and bikes at decent prices and are very helpful. Davinci make some lovely bikes but at a cost. lappiere do one as well

disc brakes essential as you will build up a lot of speed on descents – we have been 50MPH plus many times on the road. A good fork helps a lot offroad as yo can’t lift the front wheel easily andthe fork needs to be really strong. I have a ‘zocchi zI lite with reinforced steel steerer and its still a tiny bit bent

Ours is mainly used for off road touring nowadays but even for a mediocre rider like me trail centres are both possible and fun. You hit the limits out in the wilds in situations where a solo rider would be taking dabs a lot. Because of the time it takes to get on and off the bike you often end up faster just walking thru tricky sections

One key thing IMO is both of you need to try riding on both seats and as the pilot your only aim is to make sure the stoker enjoys the ride. Scare them and they won’t want to ride again.

Ours is a canondale MT 800 but heavily modified with rohloff, sus fork, thudbuster, 48 spoke front wheel, etc etc.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/fsXtZY]01 heading into the mountains[/url] by TandemJeremy, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/c2cH7h]07 beach and bike[/url] by TandemJeremy, on Flickr

Hardly the most radicalvids but its a lot of fun

[video]https://youtu.be/uYh36DrhvQo[/video]

[video]https://youtu.be/V8SFWRvsRcs[/video]

[video]https://youtu.be/GCqs-OdF0EE[/video]

My friends have a Ventana ‘something with a very long name’ and absolutely love it. Maverick forks up front and fox rear.
They are part of the local tandem club and now ride that more than the hybrid version.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/pHTimR]Red Baron bikes[/url] by Tony Clark, on Flickr
Great looking bike.

Ventana El Conquistador de Montañas. Lovely bike

Money no object I would go for a davinci because of the independent pedalling

Symbiosis

We bought one second hand, A Southern Tandem made by Locks, sized so that we can take turns as Captain which is useful. The first owner had fitted a Judy front fork and Hope 4 pot disc brake which is fine for the limited off road we’ve done. Mostly used it on road for occasional trips out and it is much more sociable than separate bikes- definitely recommend using one for touring cities etc as good fun, Amsterdam especially!

Cheers for all the info peeps.

Lot of good tips there TJ. Based near the Peak District otherwise I’d def be nipping over for a spin!
Reckon size wise I’d be 20″ and the OH 18″ so hopefully close enough that we could change positions fairly easily!

Hadn’t seen much of the Ventana’s. American company?? That full Sus looks mint!! I can see this becoming potentially very expensive!

Would be ace getting out doing some touring and bikepacking as well. I’m lucky enough to have a OH with a great sense of adventure whos not afraid of getting muddy if sleeping in the middle of no where so plenty of scope for fun!

gravity sucks – not too far from these guys then. ~They have a very good reputation
http://www.tandems.co.uk/info/tandem-hire.php

Gargrave which is v local to us. Popped in recently (for the first time) and they have a huge number of tandems inc plenty to try out, but not much in the way of serious MTBing. Not a single sus fork IIRC. Still probably worth a trip though.

MTBTandems.com is probably the go-to place for serious kit.

We got a Dawes Double Edge off here. Got quite into it, sat on the back burner whilst we moved house, got a disc mount welded on (older steel version), rode it, baby just come along so sitting in the shed for a bit.
Never anything that rad, just so the wife can join me on longer rides around lanes and commons.

Got Marzocchi DJ (could do with swapping qr lowers for 20mm), Hope big un 36h hubs with random DH rims, USE shockpost for stoker, Hope M4’s.

TJ – how many acres do you need to turn the trailer? Possible option for us, but lanes are small around me. Circular routes only?

Agree- JD Tandems has been a good supplier for the specialist consumables that we’ve needed, with efficient service and they are properly knowledgeable too. Well worth a visit.

Our Dawes Double Edge has been a good purchase, still in rigid form it will cope with anything that you’d generally be comfortable with on a CX bike. We use it for commuting, long tours and road rides on windy days, as well as occasionally adding in dirt roads and trails to a longer ride. It has the advantage in winter commute mode to be stable in strong winds and reasonably quick too.
Thudbuster rear post is pretty much essential if you plan to take it on anything lumpier than a bowling green though.
This 26″ Dawes has room for 650B summer wheels, with up to about 42mm tyres. We usually swap wheels about April and October each year, MTB knobblies in winter and fast gravel 650B tyres in the summer, usually Grand Bois Hetre.
One final note- tandems eat parts. Cheap and robust is a good phrase to keep in mind when looking to replace chains and cassettes…
Do it. It’s great fun.

TJ – how many acres do you need to turn the trailer? Possible option for us, but lanes are small around me. Circular routes only?

actually it makes no difference to the turning circle at all bar 3 pt turns become a pain. Handles much better than with panniers and noticeably lower wind resistance as well. the real pain is parking it. If I was going to be in a lot of urban areas I wouldn’t use the trailer ‘cos you need 12 ft of something to lean it against

I have a Ventana ECDM and love it. Based in Loughborough….

If you want it selling to you as an idea:

Me and t’missus had pretty much given up cycling together because both of us go frustrated with the speed difference – now we love it again. It also rekindled my mountain biking in general
Its brought us closer together – building teamwork
Its a huge laff!

20 years plus on an MTB tandem for me and wife, been through a few, 2 x cannondales, mtbtandems Fandango and now on a SH 29er 18bikes custom frame I bought very cheaply, running the latest as 29plus front and std 29 rear and it really works where we ride.

Would love a Ventana too but cant justify full sus one but the fatty one I’d snap up if I could one at the right price. Take a look at mtbtandems Fandango’s Alex has a new 27.5plus version out, shame the exchange rate is so pants otherwise I’d say one of them is possibly the best production hardtail tandem out there, also the Lapierre is an option or even look at one of the french 29er frames on ebay and do a build yourselves its a lot easier than years gone by as you can run a single sided drive chain with std chainsets and either a 1×10/11 or a Rohloff.

Do as said above test ride one to make sure it works for you and accept that every ride is a challenge you’ll soon learn to look at each trail in a different way, solo line and then tandem line.

We’ve got a Dawes, which at the beginning was (and still can be) a full on mtb. Its been ridden properly in the Peak district and now is mostly set up for touring.

Others have mentioned trying one out, I would second that
Being an mtber then suddenly being a stoker is a steep learning curve.
Also (as mentioned above) I have a thudbuster, even for easy off road or road riding its a must.

Tandems are great fun and very sociable.

[video]https://youtu.be/MH9zTVJJ_Yw[/video]

This amused me, not sure it makes me want one though. Maybe for an afternoon.

tjagain – we have been 50MPH plus many times on the road.

Wow. Wouldn’t want to do that tbh as an off would be very messy. Would never get to do that as my partner would be on both brakes at the front or full on the drag brake…. it’s a little irritating when she wants to do that above 25mph but I’d be braking near 35mph never mind 50!

Will be keeping my eyes open and see what come up, seems a few good options out there so will see what comes up first and I can get in on quick.

Seems that a Thud Buster is a prerequisite for my good lady at the back so she’s not instantly put off!

We got ours from JD Tandems who were great. We took their demonstrator to Gisburn for a try before we placed an order for a new one. Before that, we had a Lapierre that we eventually sold to Gareth and Sally in the picture.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1varJaZ1RRM&t=48s[/video]

^^^^^ nice first minute or so :). The second half is a bit… dark.

67mph on a tandem in motorcycle leathers..
[video]https://youtu.be/XW6tjCMrn9E[/video]

deepreddave I have al lthe controls – the only control the stoker has on ours is a punch in my kidneys. Wide open straight long hill with good visibility. 50 mph wearing shorts t shirt and no hat is nicely exciting – like 100MPH plus on a motorbike! Its very very stable at speed.

tjagain – Member
deepreddave I have all the controls

Ah, I’m never fully in control. Good effort that though.

Hi GravitySucks we fancied a MTB tandem for years after meeting TJagain, at Glentress, then we met Gareth and Sally on Larry the Lapierre which they bought off Switchbacktrog! So we bit the bullet and bought a MSC bikes, Zion Tandem. Love it, have ridden all sorts for 25yrs and this is the most fun I’ve had on a bike. It is a gradual process though, and we run fairly knobbly tyres year round for confidence. But it feels amazing to ride something that most people think a tandem should never do!

We are racing in a 10hr event in Fort William late this month and headed up to get a bit of practise in.

10 UTB practise

P.s sorry GS to hijack your thread but would the folk on here be interested in a UK MTB tandem group on facebook? and possibly a meet up once a yr for a MTB tandem rally, like the Americans do?

Here’s link to a group I just created. It’s a closed group but please do request to join!

Facebook, UK MTB Tandem group.

GS, tandem ownership isn’t essential!