26" or 700c ?

[Blue Hills]

No doubt Thorns are good, but expensive.

Might be some secondhand bargains.

Seem to remember being on a cyclechat ride with someone who had picked up a barely used tandem at a very large discount.

I also seem to remember that the reason for the sale was a divorce ....

Two bikes might be better.

 

[OldShep]

I’d done a few club rides with a couple who had always turned out on solo machines. One Sunday they arrived on a tandem I thought it was going to end in divorce.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Wheel size is pretty much irrelevant I think, all that matters is that they are very strong. We have 48 spoke on 700C on ours, and they are absolutely bomb proof.

I think your joint tour is an excellent idea, but have you ever ridden a tandem before? It seems to be very much a marmite thing; I'd suggest borrow or hire one for at least a day or two before committing £000s to a new one.

[Edit, meant to add there are a very few tandem specialist shops around, and a trip to one would be well advised]

 

[Blue Hills]

Yes, should have said, tour sounds great - you're a lucky chap OP.

 

[Paul Walters]

Thanks for all the advice people.... plans have moved on a little, and we're test riding a hire tandem on the weekend... taking early steps to look at renting out our house for 6 months, and pulling together the other financial strings to make it all happen.... my idea of selling the house, and making use of the equity to partly fund the ride, then downsizing when we get back, fell onto very, very stony ground !!

 

[rogerzilla]

Not 26". It's a size the manufacturers are trying to kill off, and the choice of faster road tyres has always been terrible. I know - I had a Thorn Nomad for 10 years and fast tyres were really hard to get.

 

[srw]

For touring a four-figure-mile trip on a tandem "faster road tyres" are an irrelevance. You want durability and puncture proofness - which means Marathon (plus).

 

[JDR]

If you're doing off-road, or carrying a lot - eg camping - 26" is usefully stronger. Otherwise a good 27" tandem rear wheel should be fine. Thorns are great for heavy duty touring but cost an arm and 2 legs, and they are a bit set in their ways - they snear about dropped handlebars as rohloff gears don't work on them ( just as I disapprove of anything except size 6 shoes because I happen not to use them either).
But you'd be daft not to go for a good weekend tour all loaded up if you are not already a 'proven' tandem team - borrow one or buy a reasonable one on ebay or the tandem club site - they go for less than solos - and sell it again if it doesn't suit you or seem up to 5K miles.