San Francisco - Anywhere to rent a real tandem?

[PoppaWheelie]

I have an 11 yr old son who has been slow on the uptake with any sports. I don't mind that he's not into team activities (neither was I) but I'm starting to come up short on physical activities, save for hiking (which he does dig). Anyway, I'd like to try a tandem but don't want to invest in one, knowing there's about a 5% chance he'll like it (I give myself slightly higher odds). Anyone know of a rental source in SF or Marin that has something a cut above the tourist rental / beach cruiser options from Blazing Saddles and the like? I'd love to try one out for like a weekend...

Cheers,
Bryan

[melac1]

I'd check out Spinlister. They usually have selection of tandems for rent.

[radsmd]

The Blazing Saddles location at Fisherman's Wharf Hyde St location actually has some CoMotion Periscope tandems, as well as a triple. They are much nicer than the other crappy mountain/hybrid tandems that the other locations rent.

We had reserved the triple, but it was out when we arrived (what's the use of reservations then?). So we just rented the double periscope and a separate kids bike. Did the ride over the bridge to Tiburon, then took the ferry back.

Pricing was reasonable.

http://www.blazingsaddles.com/san-francisco/bikes-and-rates/tandems/high-performance-road-tandem

[pdmtong]

The Blazing Saddles location at Fisherman's Wharf Hyde St location actually has some CoMotion Periscope tandems, as well as a triple. They are much nicer than the other crappy mountain/hybrid tandems that the other locations rent.

....

Did the ride over the bridge to Tiburon, then took the ferry back.

B - this is the answer. just uber it down to the wharf and rent the periscope and ride over to tiburon.

if you have never captained a tandem, you get on first (either lift your foot over the TT or lean the bike towards you then swing your leg backwards over the front wheel and bars, lock the saddle against your hip. son gets on next. then son rotates the pedals so you can now push off.

son needs to stay generally inline behind you without sudden weight shifts.

have a great ride.

[adamhell]

rivendell might let you borrow their tandem prototype for a day if you express interest in possibly buying one.