Cyclopathic
Veteran
- Location
- Leicester.
Is there any advantage to riding a tandem over two seperate bikes?
Tandems. What is the attraction?
- Thread starter Cyclopathic
- Start date
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It's faster, you can stay with your partner regardless of difference in fitness and you can talk easily with the other rider (not always an advantage
OP
OP
Cyclopathic
Veteran
- Location
- Leicester.
It's faster, you can stay with your partner regardless of difference in fitness and you can talk easily with the other rider (not always an advantage).
I never thought they would be faster. I have alway imagined the old cliche of sitting at the back and not doing ones share whilst the rider at the front is sweating buckets.
If they are a bit quicker does that make handling a bit of a problem?
Archie_tect
De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
- Location
- Northumberland
There better be advantages or a good cycling friend is going to be totally fed-up when he gets his tandem dismantle, spray and re-build finished if Mrs Tandem refuses to get on it!
OP
OP
Cyclopathic
Veteran
- Location
- Leicester.
middleagecyclist
Call me MAC
- Location
- Prestwich, Manchester
Good for partially sighted stokers and for taking younger or weaker riders some distance.
OP
OP
Cyclopathic
Veteran
- Location
- Leicester.
I did think that they would be a solution to riding for visualy impapared people and perhaps people with other disabilities.
Wades
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Horley, Surrey
We rented one in the lake district last year and had a great time on it. As previously mentioned it's much easier to stay together and chat without going two abreast. Also Mrs Wades isn't a very strong cyclist so we could go much further than if we were on separate bikes.
Very strange things to ride though. The one we had (a trek mountain bike style one) felt like the back was forever trying to overtake the front and the brakes were 'interesting' to say the least!
Very strange things to ride though. The one we had (a trek mountain bike style one) felt like the back was forever trying to overtake the front and the brakes were 'interesting' to say the least!
growingvegetables
Guru
- Location
- Leeds
You're on a machine that weighs just a bit more than a single bike. My tandem weighs very little more than my son's MTB. Wheels weigh the same; gears weigh the same; head set structure weighs the same, no suspension - all you've got extra is a coupla bits of tube, an extra bottom bracket, and an extra saddle. And you've got the pedal power of two people. 
Me "not in Lycra" (the day I'm thinking of, I was in gardening clothes), young kid on the back, panniers piled high with ****. Sailed past two young and very fit Lycra-clad guys, taking a special detour round their thighs.
And there are few greater pleasures, at my age, than having a mirror on the tandem, so I can watch them pump and pump and pump and pump behind me --- and still disappear into the distance.
Cadence and gears don't matter - all they can see is my 13 year old's back and the panniers ----- until we've got round the next bend or over the hill.
Tandems are faster, much more sociable, and there's something quite special about working out a good "riding understanding and trust".
Me "not in Lycra" (the day I'm thinking of, I was in gardening clothes), young kid on the back, panniers piled high with ****. Sailed past two young and very fit Lycra-clad guys, taking a special detour round their thighs.
And there are few greater pleasures, at my age, than having a mirror on the tandem, so I can watch them pump and pump and pump and pump behind me --- and still disappear into the distance.
Cadence and gears don't matter - all they can see is my 13 year old's back and the panniers ----- until we've got round the next bend or over the hill.Tandems are faster, much more sociable, and there's something quite special about working out a good "riding understanding and trust".
No, the extra length means there is completely different geometry and makes it much easier to set up a stable platform.
Globalti
Legendary Member
Nobody has mentioned the fact that the stoker is also contributing their power without any element of wind resistance at all. My wife and I hired a tandem hybrid in The Lakes and we had fantastic fun; it was really exhilaratingly fast especially on the flat or downhill.
I got a tow off a father & son team on a tandem once in a race; they were going much faster than I could have managed solo but after a couple of miles the dad started turning round and giving me dirty looks so I got in front for a spell but they soon shot off and left me for dead.
I got a tow off a father & son team on a tandem once in a race; they were going much faster than I could have managed solo but after a couple of miles the dad started turning round and giving me dirty looks so I got in front for a spell but they soon shot off and left me for dead.
Amanda P
Legendary Member
- Location
- York. Well, York-ish...
Mrs Uncle Phil and I tried one of these for a day:
...and we have one of our own on its way to us now (they don't come up second-hand very often).
It's the only tandem we've ever tried which fits us both, and which allows her to see where she's going. Plus, when we're riding it, her hands are free; she can easily navigate, signal and wave, read aloud from a book on boring sections, or even knit.
...and I can see if she stops pedalling!
...and we have one of our own on its way to us now (they don't come up second-hand very often).
It's the only tandem we've ever tried which fits us both, and which allows her to see where she's going. Plus, when we're riding it, her hands are free; she can easily navigate, signal and wave, read aloud from a book on boring sections, or even knit.
...and I can see if she stops pedalling!
Becs
Veteran
- Location
- Old Hatfield (it's nice honest!)
If you are romantically involved witht the person on the front you are in an ideal postion to grab their bottom 
