Price Paid:
$1500.00
at Paceline Bicycles Favorite Ride:
raleigh pursuit Summary:
We shopped online for tandems as we live in a rural area. We went with a LBS, Paceline Bicyles, just in case we had any problems, this was a good move. The Raleigh rode great right from the start. I drilled and tapped into the steel fork to mount low rider rakes up front. We mounted a rear rack and took her out for 150 + mile tour. Bad things started to happen! Eccentric bolts stripped out and this proved to be a weakness in frame design. The stock tires were not up to the task, many flats! The bottom bracket came loose and that meant a few miles walking! All of this was not good, except for the fact that our bikes shop sent the frame back and Raleigh replaced it with a new one. This frame had an improved bottom bracket design, I do not think we will have anymore problems in that area. We replaced stock rubber with 35mm and this is the thing to do! Better handling, especially at speed, we often top out at over 45 m.p.h., no flats, and better handling more than make up for hillclimbing penalty. I think one could put wider tires on any decent tandem and impress anyone that their tandem is better than "brand X", so pay attention to tire width when you test ride. We have over 2,000 miles on our Pursuit now and it has been a great bike! I cannot believe Raleigh dropped it from their line-up. If you find one used, look at the frame, if the captains bottom bracket is slotted, skip it and buy something else. If it solid, buy the bike! Put 32mm-35mm rubber on the rims and ride the heck out of it! It is fast, nimble, and good looking. We get a lot of compliments! Strengths:
Good components, new frame design is great. Weaknesses:
Swap out factory rubber, asap. Brakes are not adequate for loaded touring in steep situations, fine for everthing else. Similar Products Used:
Homegrown steel tandem.
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