Tandem Cycle Works

My wife and I are long time tandem riders. When we decided to upgrade to a new tandem last fall, we visited Tandem Cycle Works, and were very impressed by their wide selection of tandems, the knowledge and friendliness of the owner, Kevin, as well as being able to test ride multiple tandems, including Co-​Motion and Calfee bikes.
We purchased a new tandem from Kevin. He gave us a fair and good deal. We love our new bike! We have been very happy with the support he has given us in making sure the fit on the bike for both of us is right, the parts are right, and that we are satisfied.
If you are curious about tandems, need information, are looking to upgrade, or need repairs, Tandem Cycle Works is a great place to shop.

The NEW and IMPROVED TANDEM CYCLE WORKS in Denver, CO under «NEW» ownership since November, 2014, has got to be the best tandem bike shop in the US. The new owner, Kevin, is absolutely the most friendly, professional and capable guy you will ever meet. He is such a breath of fresh air. From the very first minute you walk in the door of the newly owned Tandem Cycle Works, Kevin makes you feel like family. Kevin just has one of those unpretentious, welcoming demeanors. You will quickly learn that Kevin’s motto is: he is «not happy» until you «are happy.» Speaking from personal experience he is ready, willing and able to do what ever it takes for you to be satisfied with your Tandem Cycle Works experience. Whether it’s routine maintenance, a new or used bicycle purchase or a major overhaul of your beloved steed: above and beyond seems to be SOP for Kevin. If I could, I would give Tandem Cycle Works and the new owner Kevin twenty stars but I guess I’ll just have to settle for five stars. If you are in the market for anything tandem related, you will not do any better than giving Kevin a visit down at Tandem Cycle Works in Denver, CO.

We bought a Co-​motion from Belmont Wheelworks in MA last fall. We have put about 1,000 miles on it this year and a few weeks ago it started making an obnoxious noise when pedaling. My husband is a pretty good single bike mechanic so we spent a Sunday overhauling the drive train minus the eccentric and bottom brackets. Despite our efforts the noise persisted. We became really desperate — the prior owners sort of had a bad reputation and my husband didn’t want to take the bike to them, but we both agreed we wanted a mechanic who knows tandems. I called Co-​motion directly and after a pretty unhelpful 10 minutes I got on the TCW website and discovered the shop has new owners.
My husband called Kevin and even though he was pretty busy and getting ready to close the shop for touring season he fit our bike in. I didn’t handle any of this and didn’t interface with Kevin, but my husband had nothing but wonderful things to say (but unfortunately he doesn’t write reviews). In particular he said Kevin is really knowledgeable, super friendly, and very obviously has a passion for tandem bikes. I’m glad we now have a place to take our tandem for jobs we can’t handle or need expertise figuring out.

New owners, great people. We had an issue with our 10 year old wheel set, and since we don’t really trust a regular bike shop to understand a tandem bike, we headed to TCW. Kevin is great. He took his time explaining the benefits of the Rolf wheels, took the old gear set and disc brake off and put them on the new wheel, even took the old tire and tube off and placed on the new wheels. We even found the cleats we needed we thought were discontinued. Really happy with the service and the knowledge. We are looking into updating our 10 year old tandem, we’ll for sure bring it here.

Love these guys! Very helpful. Will be back!

I have known the new owners of Tandem Cycle Works for a few months now, and I don’t know anyone who has a greater passion for tandem cycles. They take their specialty very seriously, but they also know how to have fun — after all isn’t that what tandem cycles are all about. If you are looking to talk shop with someone who really knows tandems, you should drop by to talk with Kevin. He is knowledgeable, friendly, and most of all, he loves what he does (and it shows). Keep up the great work Kevin!

Stopped in today to check out the shop since I’m new to the area and discuss some possible upgrades to my current Co-​Motion. It was easily the most unimpressive visit I’ve had at a bike shop. The owners were less than friendly, not very helpful and spent more time bickering with each other than helping me. I’d have to be desperate to return… what a waste.

My experience with Tandem Cycle Works was fine. I rented a tandem bicycle from them for $ 50. The bike worked out just fine, and we had it for the duration of the day. It would have been nice to keep it for later than 5pm, but I understand that they have a life outside of their shop, too.
The owners’ personalities were uninviting to say the least; they seemed annoyed the whole time that we were in the shop. They taught us how to use the bike, although they made it a bit more complicated than I think it needed to be (let’s be honest, it’s not that difficult). Pat also helped us load the bike into the car, which was nice.

My wife and I bought our Co-​Motion tandem from TCW several years ago and the bike doesn’t get much work. We just signed up for a 5-​day bike tour of Door County so it is getting its first real workout and we are finding out where all of the adjustments should have been. We stopped at Nor Door cycle shop in Fish Creek, a beautiful, well stocked shop. «Stretch» found that my wife’s saddle was too high and it also needed to be adjusted back 1 centimeter to get the plumb bob over the center of the pedal. Her handlebars also needed to be brought back. My seat had to be brought forward ½ centimeter and raised 1 centimeter. Then it hit me — why didn’t Pat do this when we bought the bike?
The other problem we had was when we first got the bike. The front disk brake squeaked. I took it in to TCW and got slight push-​back from Lynn. They had the bike for 10 days. When we got it back, it still squeaked and I got more push-​back from Pat. Several days later while on a bike path, a total stranger stopped us and told us it was squeaking. I told him about the experience at TCW and he got off his bike and adjusted out the squeak right on the spot. He even explained to me how the two adjustments work — one for centering and one for the width adjustment between the disk pads. Not rocket science. The stranger did what Pat should have done.
Pat claims that he is the «…top dealer for both CoMotion and Calfee tandems.» He makes no claims about his customer service. That is appropriate.

I’ve never rated a business 1 star before. Oddly when I click the start google gives the descriptor «Eek Methinks no». That unfortunately is my conclusion after dealing with Patrick and Lynn while shopping for a tandem. I actually waited to write this review so that time could give me a balanced perspective.
First, Patrick is simply hard to deal with. He tends to be negative, inflexible, and generally bothered by questions. In my case, I wanted a certain inexpensive component changed. Patrick, sounding quite annoyed by the request, told it couldn’t be done. I later met personally with the manufacture who said the change would have been «no problem».
Secondly, if given the chance TCW will steal your money or at least they stole mine. Since I am out of state TCW mailed some paint samples for us to review. Turns out the «accidentally» shorted the postage so I needed to pay $ 15. I get it– stuff happens. For weeks I asked that they give me back the $ 15 since the mailing was their mistake Many requests later, radio silence from TCW. I had really hoped they would have been honest so I could say something positive.
Side note: I attended a large Tandem event recently and many people had similar stories about TCW. From what I can tell they’ve a terrible reputation within around around the industry.
Bottom line: Avoid Tandem Cycle Works.