....Undecided...that would be me and my wife. We are 65 yoa and transitioning from long distance treking (in the UK) on holiday to longer distance tandem bicycling (also in the UK and Europe as well). She has bad knees and my feet no longer enjoy the last few days of a long hike.
So here's our question. We have a cannondale (Al) tandem that we ride in the US. We want to buy a S&S breakdown tandem for travel use. Not only for the air travel but perhaps most importantly so that if we get "stuck" somewhere in bad weather or illness or bad traffic...we can just disassemble the bike and jump on a bus or train. We feel this would add a great deal of flexibility.
I like everything I read about the Thorn tandems...particularly the amount of thought and planning that has gone into the design and assembly of the bikes. The opinionated explanations are very interesting. They bring up and offer resolution on questions and issues that had not even occurred to me. The only thing that is keeping me from ordering a Thorn tandem right now is that the limited S&S coupler system they use won't allow the bike to be broken down enough to fit into a suitcase size bike box/bag. Most USA tandems with S&S couplers will break way down so that the bike and wheels can be packed into a very compact box/bag that then could easily be carried onto a train as normal luggage, or easily fit in the cargo bay under a bus. Specifically, we have looked at Co Motion and Santana 26" tandems that could easily be carried on trains or buses.
Does anyone have any suggestions to share r/t transporting a S&S thorn tandem on trains or buses? We will appreciate any experiences you may have had transporting Thorn or other SS bikes on surface transportation...thanks!
Jim and Judy Boyle....near Yosemite NP, California, USA
