Hi Stephen, we had an"Ecosmo" folding tandem for 6 months which was fun to potter around on (we live in London). Later we moved on to a 'serious' (i.e. more expensive) machine.  They're around £450 new but you can get second hand for around £250. Ours wasn't electric, however, they do sell them. They seem to be out of stock at the mo tho. Give them a ring and find out when they're due a delivery

Hi Stephen,

Just seen your post, but we have an electric folding tandem that we would like to sell.  This may come too late for you, but it is a KHS T-20 Sausage Dog Folding tandem, originally from JD Tandems and converted to a rear hub electric by them for the previous owner.  It is a 20" small wheel tandem.  It is in good condition.

Let me know if this is of interest.

We live in Torbay, Devon.

Mike & Kim

Mike and Kim, thanks for getting in touch. We ended up buying an Ecosmo tandem. We are very pleased with it.

Thanks again

Stephen

Hi Stephen,

I'm interested in your experience with the electric Ecosmo tandem. We had the non electric one for a while and which was fun and very convenient to take on  trains. However, we found the gearing really low and we had pedal quite fast to get up much speed; great to potter round town but frustrating on the open road.

Does the electric one have the same low gearing?

Also, ours was quite heavy (~30kg) for lugging up railway station stairs. Do you know the weight of yours? I believe the electric one is made of aluminium but then there's the extra weight of the battery and motor. 

Your opinion would greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Chris

Hi Drewery,

Thank you for getting in touch. Yes the Tandem is still for sale. We bought it second hand and it feels very solid and well made. We have only ridden it a few times as my wife didn't take to it. I found it fine and liked the folding option. It has folding pedals, a stand, a home made lockable box on the rear rack for bits & pieces and is generally in good condition. The bike was originally purchased from JD Tandems.We are not at home at present otherwise I would send some pictures of the bike, but if you are interested I could do this after Christmas.

I hope this is of help.

All the best, Mike

Notification of yesterday's activity on this thread has prompted me to look and reply to Chris Allen's post of 21-Oct which was before our membership started....

We've had the ecosmo for 4 years now but promptly upgraded the transmission for the reasons you highlight. Our local repair shop installed a rear wheel with a cassette hub and a 7 speed 11-34 cassette, and we abandoned the non-synchronising chainring system and installed synchronised 'fixed' chainrings, with a 48T drive ring (and a square tooth one after the first one kept dropping the chain). All this cost a modest £200 or so and has been ideal with a 7 gear range of 28" - 87".

It has meant that we can tour far and wide and get the bike and trailer into hotel rooms and lifts.

We are in process of moving on from this due to problems with mountainous descending (see https://tandem-club.org.uk/forum/discussions?id=11950  ) by having a new rear wheel with a disc brake. While doing this we are having a sturmey archer 3 speed hub with a cassette which will couple with the above above referred 7 speed cassette and reducing the chainring to a 40T (square tooth again). This gives 11 effective gears (from the 21 with overlaps) from 18" to 97". I can report back on how this experiment works.

Evening Drewery, Many thanks for your contact.  In truth I haven't taken and pictures of the bike, but I will.  Please give me a couple of days (a full day tomorrow) and I will reply with a good set of pictures so you can fully assess the bike.  Like you, we are not Tandem experts, but enjoy riding together taking in the scenery.  I will be in touch.  All the best,  Mike.