Thanks Bob! The tandem is not custom built. It's a Burley Duet road tandem. Burley was known fro making those yellow baby buggy things that riders pull at the back of their bikes for kids. kid trailers. We are in California and Burley was in Oregon. IT's been a great bike at a great price! Sadly Burley went out of business a few years ago. Our tandem was bought in 1997. I take good care of it so it's been a really good bike. Steel cromoly frame and is a nice ride.
When we were on the market for a tandem we actually wanted a Trek. But looking into ordering a Trek, they waiting list was a year long and we didn't want to wait. The Trek was about $2300 at the time and the Burley was about $2200.
We also looked into the #1 tandem brand at the time Santana. Their starting model was $2600 without any upgrades or features we wanted. Like 48 spoke wheels, extra charge, a few other things, extra charge. Heck by the time we got what we wanted we would end up spending $3500. One of the tandems I really like from Santana was an aluminum model starting at $4500, back in 1997.
So we settled for the Burley as it was available and had all the features we wanted at a good price. Some with some TLC, this has been a great tandem for us. I do take care of it though. Pretty happy when people come up to us and tell us what a nice bike it is. Most are surprised to find out it's a 1997.
We did order it through a well known bicycle shop here in our area. Special order as most don't have the space to store tandems on the show room floor. B)