Learnincurve
Senior Member
- Location
- Chesterfield
Went out and hired one at the monsal trail to see how we would all get along with it. There were four kiddies, three of them were about age 11 height one is about age 7 height. Not sure what size the tandem was, I would guess about 17 and 15. First thing we noticed was that size of child didn't matter because as they didn't have to be able to put feet on the ground, only the pedals, even the little one fit on it.
First thing was that the two who didn't know how to ride bikes loved it, took a while to work out how to set off and to convince the 10 year old to stop trying to look round me and thereby dragging us sideways. She also needed to be told to chill out and relax when going past people. Other bigger one who could ride a bike hated it because she couldn't see where she was going. Autistic one refused to have any part in this nonsense and wants a trike next time.
Kept it in the middle ring, probably went a maximum of 14 mph down a mild incline. I was surprised that we got the most speed up with the little one, but then she showed no fear and was relaxed from the get go. She and I could have kept going for hours, we did 2 as a group but with a lot of stop starting and going back and forth between members of the party if we hadn't I would say 15 miles would have been a breeze with her.
"Pedal faster Aunte LC!"
"I can't pedal faster"
"I can!"
All three girls learned a lot about speed and how going faster makes you less likely to wobble which was the big fear with two of them. We also learned how to start up peddling and getting a rhythm going so I would say today was a huge success and well worth the £15 hire charge. Would I buy a tandem? No. Only because it's huge, needs the same amount of maintenance as two bikes, and the one we hired was easily worth £700 and that's 46 sessions.
First thing was that the two who didn't know how to ride bikes loved it, took a while to work out how to set off and to convince the 10 year old to stop trying to look round me and thereby dragging us sideways. She also needed to be told to chill out and relax when going past people. Other bigger one who could ride a bike hated it because she couldn't see where she was going. Autistic one refused to have any part in this nonsense and wants a trike next time.
Kept it in the middle ring, probably went a maximum of 14 mph down a mild incline. I was surprised that we got the most speed up with the little one, but then she showed no fear and was relaxed from the get go. She and I could have kept going for hours, we did 2 as a group but with a lot of stop starting and going back and forth between members of the party if we hadn't I would say 15 miles would have been a breeze with her.
"Pedal faster Aunte LC!"
"I can't pedal faster"
"I can!"
All three girls learned a lot about speed and how going faster makes you less likely to wobble which was the big fear with two of them. We also learned how to start up peddling and getting a rhythm going so I would say today was a huge success and well worth the £15 hire charge. Would I buy a tandem? No. Only because it's huge, needs the same amount of maintenance as two bikes, and the one we hired was easily worth £700 and that's 46 sessions.
