Annual Tandem Owner's Survey
The TandemGeek


It's once again winter in North American and time for my annual, highly unscientific survey of tandem owners. This year's survey looks at what you're riding and how it's equipped.

You will find a variety of different questions below that ask for different types of responses. Please be sure to read each question carefully, noting that some questions will only allow you to submit one answer where others allow you to check multiple responses.

Please Note: This is a blind survey in that it does not ask you for any personal information that can be used to identify you with your responses; therefore, please be candid, honest, and limit your responses to one survey per household.


1.  How many rideable bikes do you own? Please don't include bikes that have transcended utility and become "works of art" hanging on the wall.

 


2.  How many tandems do you own? Again, as with bikes, stick with riding stock.

 


3.  What type of tandem(s) do you have? There are obviously a variety of different types of tandems and while we can't list them all, the following should cover the bases. Check all that apply but limit your answers to one type per tandem. If you have a road tandem that is also used off-road, it's probably an enduro.

Road – 700c Conventional Upright
Road – 26” Conventional Upright
Road - Recumbent
Road - Semi-Recumbent (Opus Counterpoint, Bilenky ViewPoint, Harmony, etc…)
Road – Trike
Enduro (700c or 26” hardtail with rigid fork)
Off-Road (26” or 29” hardtail w/shock fork or full suspension)
Multi-seat tandem; triplet (3), quad (4), quint (5), etc..
Multi-seat convertible or "cabrio" with S&S couplers
Fat tire / Cruiser / Collectors Item / Antique / Schwinn Twinn, etc..  


4.  What’s the most you’ve ever spent on the purchase of a tandem? This can be price out the door, or with your own upgrades netted against the purchase price.

 


5.  If you’ve upgraded to a better tandem, what was the main reason:

 


6.  If you own or have owned a travel tandem with S&S couplers, check all that apply:

We previously traveled with a non-coupled, full-size tandem
Never traveled until we had the S&S equipped travel tandem
Have also traveled with a foldable tandem, e.g., Montaque, Bike Friday, etc.
We think it’s a great feature & no regrets
Makes traveling relatively hassle-free
Don’t find it difficult or too time consuming to pack & unpack
Have never had problems traveling with it or had it damaged in transit
It’s really a challenge to pack and unpack; takes more time than I thought it would
Have had problems with check-in or had the bike damaged in transit.
Found it to be more trouble than it was worth; sold it  


7.  Let’s talk wheels: what type of wheels do you have on your road tandem(s)?

What ever came on the bike; I really don’t know or care: they work just fine.
A set of 48 hole wheels or 40 hole front & 48 hole rear
A set of 40 hole wheels or 36 hole front & 40 hole rear
A set of 36 hole wheels or 28/32 hole front & 36 hole rear
Bontrager Race Lite Tandem Wheels
Rolf Prima Vigor Tandem Wheels
Shimano-Santana Sweet 16’s
A set of non-tandem specific aero wheels, e.g., Ksyrium, etc..
Aerospoke Tri-Spokes
Some other type of Aero Spoke or Disc wheels  


8.  As a follow-on to Question 7 regarding wheels, for those who have the newer low spoke-count aero wheels, select the statements that best fit your experience(s) with the brands listed:

We have the Bontragers & HAVE NOT had any problems
We have the Bontragers & HAVE HAD problems but they were taken care of
We have the Bontragers, HAD problems, and customer support was UNSATISFACTORY
We have the Rolfs & HAVE NOT had any problems
We have the Rolfs & HAVE HAD problems but they were taken care of
We have the Rolfs, HAD problems, and customer support was UNSATISFACTORY
We have the Shimano-Santana & HAVE NOT had any problems
We have the Shimano-Santana & HAVE HAD problems but they were taken care of
We have the Shimano-Santana, HAD problems, and customer support was UNSATISFACTORY
We’re using a non-tandem specific set of aero wheels and they have been problem free  


9.  OK, who has a carbon fork on their tandem(s)?

Not us, and have no plans to do so.
Not us, but we are definitely in the market or thinking about it
Our tandem came with a carbon fork
We upgraded to a carbon fork from a steel fork; glad we did
We upgraded to a carbon fork from a steel fork; wish we didn’t
We’ve got a Reynolds Ouzo Pro (Santana's OEM fork)
We’ve got the Santana carbon fork with V-brake mounts
We’ve got a Wound-Up (Co-Motion's & Seven's OEM fork)
We’ve got an AME, True Temper, or Calfee-branded Alpha Q (Burley's OEM fork)
Other: Bontrager/Trek, Winwood, etc...  


10.  Finally, let’s talk frame material:

Steel, good old fashion chromoly “steel is real” steel
Air-hardened steel or some other type of exotic steel e.g., Niobium, Nivacrom, etc..
Aluminum
Scandium Aluminum
Titanium
Carbon
Carbon / Titanium hybrid (IsoGrid/ExoGrid)
Magnesium
Bamboo
Other, as in none of the above materials.  



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