Sunday, October 4, 2015

Catching up (Condensed-believe it or not)

Blogger has never worked worth a darn on my ipad. I just bought a laptop running the latest version of Windows, so, I believe I'm back in business, although Blogger is still fighting me. You'll notice some stuff is mis-spaced, off center, among other little things that drive me crazy. Here's a condensed summary of the past few months:

Group ride with the mayor of Fort Worth-me and my wife showed up on the Santana tandem and had a great time.



I was looking for ways to carry gear on the front end of the Santana. I tested out an Iberra handlebar bag, which was inexpensive and a really great bag, but I ended up going with a Wald basket.





The wife has really taken to the whole tandem bike thing. She actually brought up the idea of buying a tandem that is capable of running wider tires, since we end up riding a lot of gravel and hardpacked dirt trails. We started researching steel framed tandems. We passed on the Salsa Powderkeg-the 32 spoke wheels didn't inspire confidence (we're not a lightweight team),



 We also passed on a Co-motion Mocha-again, we're not lightweights and the Mocha lacks a lateral support bar which would mean the frame would flex quite a bit.



 We settled on a Hokitika Haka, an American made steel tandem produced by Tandems East, a tandem specialty shop in New Jersey. This bike was a fantastic deal, saving us about $1,400 over the Powderkeg or the Mocha.




















Racks and accessories have been added:






































Rides have been made to several local coffee vendors.




















We participated in a local benefit ride, The Cowtown Classic, and made a short video with cheesy royalty free music:



We have met up with our friend Chris, aka Pondero, on a couple of occasions. Coffee was brewed and enjoyed.


































That pretty much sums things up. Till next time.

6 comments:

  1. Great to see you back again!

    I love that "tie dye" bag!

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    1. Thanks Justine. The panniers are from Carsick Designs. My wife fell in love with the print.

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  2. cheesy royalty free music – new touring band name?! ;)

    mi fave shot is the brewing cups w the skyline in the back. nice to see you typing, can almost smell the coffee.

    blogger seems to not work for all of us, yet we are here the few of us. however off center, always on point. or something.

    lookinig fwd to more tandem tales w your wife, and coffee stops :^]

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    1. Hi Meli! It's always nice to hear from you. I'm glad to see that your blog is still going strong.
      I really need to do a better job keeping up with things.I thought when I retired, I'd have lots of free time on my hands. That hasn't been the case.

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  3. Pretty good choice! It actually looks the best among the three. Riding is always better when with a companion, that's why I love these tandems!

    Recreation Space

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    1. Hi Lisa. Sorry for the late reply, we've been out of state and have had limited internet access.

      I think the Hokitika tandems are the best deal out there if you're looking for a new mid-level tandem, I agree with you, I really enjoy riding with my wife. I wish we had bought a tandem years ago. By the way, I just "liked" your page on Facebook.

      Myles

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