A few months ago there was this awesome Jack Taylor tandem posted on craigslist for more than I could afford, sized perfectly for teh wife and I.
I e-mailed the seller and was very up front about the fact that my wife and I didn’t have the funds. As it turned out he was leaving the country in a few days anyway and would not be back or in a position to sell the bike until late December, and that he would e-mail me when he got back.
Sure enough, a few days ago he e-mailed me to let me know he was back and to ask if I was still interested. Since my last contact with him we have thrown down for a house and are even more broke than we were before. Once again I was honest with him, and he indicated he is no particular hurry to sell it. He seems to want for it to go to a good home.
The healthiest thing to do would be to let the idea go, but this is proving to be tough, so I’m asking for input from you tarckers.
Here are my concerns:
The price. He’s asking 2 grand. It’s a beautiful bike, but I don’t think it’s worth quite that. Considering we don’t have the cash on hand (yet) we’re not in a strong position to negotiate a lower price, and I don’t want to insult the guy.
My wife’s level of commitment. She’s an avid cyclist, and has expressed interest in a tandem but she doesn’t WANT this bike like I want it, and there are much more practical things we could be spending our money on right now. If it were a few hundred bucks it would be a non-issue, but it’s not. I need her to be on board for it to even be possible.
The practicality/performance of an older tandem. This is a beautiful bike, but for this kind of money would we be happier with a more modern bike with threadless, discs, indexed shifting, etc…?
[quote=“zombie”]It might be fun to build a tandem up just for getting crazy on. What would be a cool build?
Disc fork
geared or fixed?
'sp0ke?[/quote]
disc fork = too much trouble. Canti pegs, use a sidepull if you are that concerned about clearance/stopping power. If it’s a huge issue put a drum brake hub on the rear so you have that for extra stopping power.
Definitely geared, when it gets down to it a fixed tandem is a novelty at best.
now the errorspoke…
Good question. I honestly have no idea. It’s too nice to be a lockup/bar bike. I guess I picture it being an “only on Sundays” kind of bike, but there’s definitely an appeal to something more beater-ish.
Not planning on it, but maybe my Aero Track and XO-2.
I say don’t buy as well. It’s really nice but how rad would it be to get some odd-ass Murray tandem and just lock it up wherever and not even worry about someone jacking it because it so fucking hideous.
But wow that is a nice bike. I would hold off though. See if he’ll just wait indefinitely until you can afford it? Pay it off in increments?
Not very, IMO. I’d like to at least have something safe, comfortable, and mechanically sound enough to take on, say, a 100 mile ride. Besides, tandems are pretty hard to steal without some premeditation.
Yeah. If it were a shop vs. a private seller I would be more comfortable with that.
I think I might just try to set up a test ride (if I can convince my wife, that is). For all I know one or both of us might hate it. If we love it, then we can take the next step.
