Glad you asked.
Rick Jorgensen custom designed and hand-built Tango tandems (and single bikes) for individual customers. He built them in his shop (i.e., one-car garage) in Davis, California. Most of his bikes date back to the 1980s. He built the bike Kathy and I are riding in 1989. You can learn more about Rick and his bikes on his website, Bicycle Engineering.
All of the components date from then as well, save the tires, tubes, handlebar tape, saddles, and electronics. That should give you some idea of their quality. Like the Tango model says, “Why Pay Less?”
Beyond that, the most obvious thing that makes a Tango special to ride is the bike’s lateral stability. Rick engineered his own frame design, known as an “uptube.” It virtually eliminates the sideways motion other tandems experience as a result of having two riders on board. It is “stiffer,” and in that sense, more stable even though it allows more room for the stoker (the person in back).
Another innovation of Rick’s is that the stoker has control over gear shifting. In all other tandems, the captain (or rider in front) has complete control. Everything is on the front handlebars: steering, braking, shifting, and even the drag brake (which is used to control downhill speed). A captain can, and in many cases does, do everything, leaving the stoker nothing to do but pedal at whatever cadence the captain dictates.
By putting the gear shifters and drag brake in back, the Tango turns the ride into a team effort. I can’t shift gears; Kathy has to shift them. If Kathy wants to shift gears, she needs to alert me—which in some cases leads to negotiations. Either way, it requires constant communication. In the end, our choice of gear and the timing of gear shifts always come down to an agreement.
I’ve spent a lot of time on Rick’s tandems. I’ve ridden them on hundred-mile rides and even a double century (200 miles). It’s by far my favorite long-distance ride. I’m looking forward to riding it all 545 miles over seven days in June.