Carl,

I would suggest looking into tandem clubs in your area. Most of the participants tend to be empty nesters. My wife and I belonged to the Chicago Area Tandem Society in Chicago for years riding with our 2 young boys and it was great to have others to ride tandems with.

Second I am sure you could find and excellent used tandem. I suggest buying a higher level tandem such as a Co-Motion, Santana, or a Meridian. I have both a Meridian, and Santana and they are both great but different.

Try to ride different ones if you can. The only way you will know if it will work is if you and your wife go out and ride. Also remember that the stoker rules. The Captain needs to captain the bike but ride to the beat of the stoker.

My 14 year old and I road 2014 on our tandem. He started as my stoker when he was 3. Last year he road his own single and had a great time. Riding Ragbrai on a tandem is great and makes for a different experience especially for the stoker.

Good luck and PM me if you would like to talk more.

PS my Santana Soverien is up for sale.

Thanks for the advice.

What he said. Check out simmonsohntandems and gtgtandems to get advice for the best tandem bike for you and your wife.

Thanks

My wife and I just purchased our first Tandem. We picked the Co-Motion Primera. The first few rides will be like relearning how to ride a bike. What do you have to transport it? Most normal bike carriers won’t do it. We bought ours for pretty much the same reasons you are considering one. For starting out you need to communicate everything. Gear changes. Coasting. Pedaling. Repositioning. Getting water. Upcoming bumps.also remember yo acknowledge communications and wait to perform actions until they have been acknowledged. You will quickly learn when some of these are going to happen naturally and will learn to go without calling them out.

The stokers I know that have them seem to appreciate Thudbuster shock absorbing seat posts.

Just got a Salsa Powderkeg this fall and got a few rides in on it before the cold arrived. My wife and I are really enjoying it and are looking forward to RAGBRAI together on it next summer. We rode RAGBRAI together last summer on singles and had a great time. This should be another great shared adventure!

I agree with everything the others have said, the only thing I would add is if possible, rent a tandem a couple of times to see if you like it and use it as a way to learn what you like and don’t like about a particular tandem. I am on my third, and finally have found the one I love to ride. This will be my first time in Ragbrai and looking forward to learning from the veterans. If you are transporting the tandem yourself that is great, I am working with my local bike shop to ship my bike ahead of time. Probably through FedEx or some other type of freight option, unless others have suggestions.