Anyone any real life experience of a Thorn tandem and how it compares to, say, a Dawes Double Edge. We’ve got the money for a Thorn, but the Dawes one is £1500 cheaper. So is the Dawes something that will quickly put us off tandem riding, or is it likely to be good enough for occasional rides – my wife has just signed us up for the PoppyScotland Sportive! Is the Thorn really worth the extra?

Nothing wrong with Dawes tandems in my experience – we have a ten year old discovery twin upgraded with discs, must admit to wanting a 29er now though.

Edit – thorn still have a very odd view on disc brakes too 😕

Yes saw the Cannondale 29er on one site (JDTandems, I think) but only in large, so not a goer for us.

I can’t persuade my wife (or myself, to be honest) that we need a Sonder Cahoot.

We’re in central Scotland, so all shops are miles away. I suspect a weekend in England is coming up.

As far as I am aware the dawes are fine. NBT of this parish has one. I wouldn’t go Thorn because of their attitude to discs on the front and I would want a front disc. IMO they are essential. £1500 gets a lot of upgrades

I have a ‘dale 26″ tandem with a lot of upgrades

JD tandems have a very good reputation but I have not used them

Thorn Rohloff tandem here. Bought it as a frameset and hub in 2005 and built it up myself. Build quality of the frameset is excellent, undoubtedly one of the best I’ve come across. Rohloff is beneficial on the tandem: simplifies the drivetrain massively (no need for tandem-specific cranks) and allows shifting when stationary. Takes plenty of baggage. Rides nicely enough, not that I have anything to compare it to. Will probably last forever and is good value if you’re going to use it heavily, but if it’s only for occasional use it’s a lot of money to drop when a Dawes would almost certainly do.

TJagain to the forum; if he doesn’t respond, message him.

post above squire- I aint that much of an expert anyway 😉

Matey, don’t hide your light under…..a tandem.

Had a Double Edge for a few years. Was nice enough but I’d only tried a cheap steel hire one in the New Forest so had nothing to compare it to.
We only bought it on a whim as a local bike shop had ordered it in for a customer who vanished despite taking a deposit so we got it cheap, sold it with little loss a few years later as we’d stopped using it.
Wish we’d just kept it now!

Late to the party and no direct experience of double edge but from what I’ve heard it seems like an ideal choice for a starter/occasional use tandem. You can upgrade if/when you want to get into it more seriously and will know in more detail what you want and are prepared to pay. Thorn makes great bikes but might not be ideal for you.

The main difference in price is the rohloff. Thorn still live in the past with their attitude to discs. Yes you can overheat a disc same as yo can overheat rim brakes but in practice this just doesn’t happen under normal use and the Dawes has cable discs so no fluid to boil. I have a couple of times overheated a disc under peculiar circumstances but you can tell when its going to happen from the change in feel and stop before it boils. I do run hope six pots now and I have never overheated them despite being a coward and dragging them down steep descents.

You want a good brake on the front which means a disc

Ridgeback Velocity or Landescape tandems may be worth a look at too.

Edit – whatever you end up getting make sure you buy a good suspension seat post for the stoker

We have two tandems for hire. The oldest is an Orbit with one disk (drag brake). As you can imagine it’s seen quite a bit of use by folk who’ve never ridden one before but it just keeps on trucking. It’s often out for day hire but has also been across to the Outer Hebrides more times than Para Handy 🙂

The newest is a Dawes Double Edge. I’d say it’s a definite step up in overall quality but it’s only on its second year of use so time will tell.

This you TJ?
https://www.facebook.com/157875931084373/videos/754180021453958/
😉

As others have said, JD have a good name. Old C*nn*nd*l* here, disks both ends, wouldn’t have anything else.

And Dickyboy’s suss seatpost comment applies, the power supply at the back can’t see the bumps coming. Bunnyhopping isn’t easy.

Similar DezB but we would never wear matching outfits!

I’d go with the Dawes too of the two you’ve looked at, we’ve got a Galaxy twin, a custom mtb tandem with a rohloff and just a bought a SH Thorn Kiddyback last to take the grandkids out and about. I’ve had Cannondales in the past too. The Dawes is great at what its for, rolling along a nice pace comfortably on the lanes, first thing I did was too pop a disk on the front. The Thorn is good from my initial ride but its a bit basic and it needs more brakes, v’s wont cut it with two up. What’s the main thing you want it for? Are you potentially wanting to take it offroad in time? Do you want to tour on it?
As above Double Edge as an into tandem is great, Landescape are an option too or if just road then even the Galaxy Twin, if you want to do the offroad thing in future Cannondale, Lapierre or even a Salsa Powderkeg, 27.5 or 29er wheels will make a difference to your stokers comfort as will a decent suspension seatpost on any of the above. Try and get a trial somewhere or hire and try it out riding a tandem is not something that suits everybody.

pyranha

If you want to try a tandem out you can have a shot on ours. Edinburgh based

In Cumbria if you’d like to borrow one. Not directly answering the question but have you considered second hand? We bought a second hand custom steel by Locks of Sandwich. Hope disc on the front, Judy fork and halo wheels. Occasional use only but it was only £550 so no big deal. We talk about using it more often but…. Good fun though and way better socially than separate bikes.

The main difference in price is the rohloff. Thorn still live in the past with their attitude to discs. Yes you can overheat a disc same as yo can overheat rim brakes but in practice this just doesn’t happen under normal use

I have to say after a stop from 53mph (stoker’s laces caught on the pedal axle) on some (now quite old) Hope 4 pots with 200mm rotors, there was a fair bit of heat in them to the degree they were pretty smoky, but they were still working fine.

I would imagine you’ll be fine with appropriate pad/brake choice. 140mm road discs probably not a great idea. And as tj says, you can very much overheat rim brakes too – parents tandem has a V brake on the rim for drag braking.

DezB – that’s Jackson and Rose Green. Jackson’s making his next DH tandem frame at the moment, fancy buying their old one? 😉

Previous owner upgraded our dawes discovery twin to disc brakes and kept the V brakes, so we now have a voice activated emergency rear brake and a parking brake operated by an old fork lockout lever 8)

Mrs BigJohn & I have had a go on a regular tandem. I enjoyed it, she didn’t as she couldn’t see where we were going.

I’d really like to try a Hase Pino though. They look very good fun.

We have an upgraded Double Edge here in Angus; used for commutes and for weekend rides on windy days.. Fine enough frame, now has lighter 36h 650B wheels for summer touring as well as the heavy 48h 26″ winter treads. One essential purchase on any tandem is a Cane Creek thudbuster (short travel). Your stoker needs it as the rear triangle is brutally strong.
From new, I’d say consider a chunkier bar and stem combo too and as everyone else has said, discs are essential.
The stock BB5 work fine, ours lasted 3 years before being upgraded to BB7. They’re great fun; do it.

Sure, disks are good, I’ve got them on two of our tandems and they’ve generally worked well (though in 20 years we have had the odd occurrence of pad contamination and/or brake calliper leakage etc). But good rim brakes are fine too, we have magura hydraulics on our oldest tandem and they have worked really well for over a decade. Sadly they are no longer made.

Wow. That’s a flurry of information. We have been thinking of one for a while, and rented a Dawes Duet last weekend which decided it. That despite hating the handlebars, pedals, saddles, and feeling the geometry was wrong for us – we were still grinning at the end of a 20+ mile ride on roads and forest tracks.

We’re off to look at a second hand (non-Rohloff) bike in Oban tomorrow, asking a shade over £500, so if it fits, it might be coming home with us!

So thanks to everyone for the comments.

And we now own a Thorn Explorer – derailleur, rim brakes, drag brake, and a good size for us both. I liked the fact that it has a straight, level looking top tube, and it’s in British Racing Green. We’ve got some work to do to get the contact points right, but it was only £500, so there’s plenty left in the piggy bank.

Thinking of selling ours if anyone is interested as we’ve not ridden it for around 18 months.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/acEFYh]110813_132922[/url] by multispeedstu, on Flickr

pyranha

Nice. Welcome to the world of ” she’s not peddaling on the back” This will get shouted at you at least once every ride.

Remember the captains job is to ensure the stoker has a good ride 😉 – Call out for gear changes and bumps so they are ready and the stoker is always right!

Great!

Anyone interested in looking at tandems, come to Bishops Castle tomorrow. There will be about 80 of them doing the tandem triathlon…

Might be worth a call to Laidback Bikes in Edinburgh, not sure about “normal” tandems but usually has Circe demos, full recumbents and other exotica.

Happy with our Dawes Double Edge with front bouncy suspension.
Although it doesn’t get out as often as it should.

frankconway – Member
TJagain to the forum; if he doesn’t respond, message him.

Frank, for future reference, in case you need it;

🙂