Trek T1000

Price Paid:  $2400.00 at Cycle path in Calgar

Model Year:
2007

Favorite Ride:
anything with little traffic and a long uphill grind, love the Bragg Creek road out to the gravel

Bike Setup:
Stock

Summary:
My 12 year old 80 pound daughter and I road tested the 1000 as well as the Canondale, I was quite dissapointed with the C dale but in all fairness to Cannondale the shop I was dealing with were very unacommodating with a very poorly set up bike even on our third visit there to ride the bike. As soon as we pushed on the pedals of the Trek we were very impressed. The bike felt extremely light and accelerated very quickly. The stokers area had at least 2 inches on the Cannondale and the drop bars were very comfy for my stoker (who is a power house) The bike climbs extremely well and is very predictable while standing and hammering and there is very little stoker steer, the shifting is good but could be crisper and quicker with a lever upgrade. On the downhills we have had it up to 85 Kph and I felt comfortable enough to go even higher if the hill had been steeper and longer, no twitch and it tracked perfectly. The brakes slow the bike down a lot better than I expected but then I don't have a whole lot of weight on the back. Over all I feel this bike was the best for our purposes and every ride is a joy. We do mostly longer rides of at least 3 hours and some up to 6 and comfort is never an issue.

Strengths:
Not stellar but very predictable and confidence ispiring handling. Weight is very light feeling. lots of room for the stoker.

Weaknesses:
could be speced with ultegra for the price. stoker suspension seatpost is a bit of a waste of money, would rather see a nice carbon post.

Similar Products Used:
Gary fisher gemini mountain tandem, Rocky Mountain Tandem (My wife and I toured New Zealand for 8 months on this)

Price Paid:  $0.00 at Kokopelli Bike and B

Model Year:
2007

Favorite Ride:
Who could choose?

Bike Setup:
Stock except for prefered saddles and captain stem length.

Summary:
This was an upgrade from a first generation Trek T-200 steel frame. The first thing I noticed is that the T-1000 is ridiculously light-weight. This is a workhorse tandem. You won't have to swap many parts to get tons of mile on this bike. At $1000 less than a Santana or similar ride it is a great value for a high performance tandem. We chose the T-1000 over the more expensive and higher spec'ed T-2000 because many times we'll be pulling a trailer and I wanted the 40 spoked wheels and steel fork for the added durability.

Strengths:
Price and spec. This is a well thought-out bike at a reasonable price. The captain's bars are even wider than the stoker's!

Weaknesses:
Caliper brakes don't give you a ton of confidence in light of all the great V-brakes out there. They do seem to work well and will take 35c+ tires with room to spare. If you like bombing mountain passes, get a drum brake. It would be nice to get just an even smaller frame, 52/48, but I was able to make it work for me.

Similar Products Used:
Circa 1995 Trek T-200