The UK Tandem Club has a very good website which offers access to many tandem related resources not least of which is a buy and sell area where people can advertise tandem bicycles they no longer need, for a modest fee. When I decided to sell our Orbit tandem I advertised it on the Tandem Club website and I managed to sell it quite quickly.

This was the bike I sold, I was sorry to part with it but Lorena's sciatica beat us:

Anyway, that was the past, back to the present. When I set up my Tandem Club options I asked to be notified of any new advertisements that might appear on the site as I remained interested in the items that came up for sale though I held out little hope of finding what I wanted, I proved to be very wrong.

At about the time that I had decided to buy a new HASE Pino an advert popped into my inbox. The advertisement was for a white HASE Pino Steps and it looked to me to be in excellent condition. I contacted the seller immediately for more information.

It transpired that this particular HASE Pino Steps was being sold having covered only 68 miles. I will not go into any details but the bicycle was essentially new and I was able to establish that the original supplier would be happy to support and service the bike, the bike came with all the original paperwork.

Even though we had never at this stage ridden a Pino I knew that I had to take this chance so I paid a deposit, agreed how to pay the balance, and started to make arrangements to collect the bike. In the interim period I ordered and took delivery of a THULE EasyFold XT 3 rack (expensive!) as I needed that to go and collect the Pino, a trip that was going to be a 700 mile round trip with an overnight stay spent in a small tent!

I must say a thank you to Ward Appeltans from the Pino Owners Group (Facebook) who was very helpful with his wise advice on carrying the Pino on a bike rack, he was most generous with his experience and guidance.

The excitement built as I arrived to collect the bike, the seller proved to be very helpful and allowed me to examine the bike in detail before departure and to familiarise myself with it. A short test ride down the road and I knew this was the bike for us and it was time to load the bike onto the rack, everything came together nicely, thanks to the previous advice of Ward Appeltans.

With the final balance paid it was time for the 350 mile drive home with my prize strapped to the THULE bike rack. Everything seemed to be secure and off I went, about seven hours later I arrived home, the deed was done, I was the owner of a HASE Pino Steps and I couldn't have been more pleased.