Why do people have tandems? what are their advantages etc?

[Dave7]

Serious question that. My friend raised the question on our ride today so I promised I would put the question on here.
Thanks

 

[biggs682]

Serious question that. My friend raised the question on our ride today so I promised I would put the question on here.
Thanks

Easy answer from me , we bought ours when my daughter was about 8 years old and i got fed up of stopping every couple of hundred yards when she rode a normal bike for one reason or another , with the tandem the only time we stopped was junctions or obstacles we had so much dad and daughter time on it .

Once she got to teenage years it wasn't cool , so now it's used by me and the other half and we enjoy it .

Great fun to ride once you get use to them , i would love to do more miles on our's

 

[screenman]

Brings you closer to your partner, you both travel at the same speed and the list goes on.

 

[welsh dragon]

I quite often see an elderly couple on a tandem round here. They are out every day no matter the weather. It gets you out of the house. There are a lot of hills here, so for elderly people 2 are better than 1. And they use it to do their shopping. They seem to enjoy it so why not?

Not my cup of tea, but each to his own sort of thing.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Very fast. So fast. Cripes they are fast.

 

[smutchin]

I once hired a tandem for a day out with my son while we were on holiday in Somerset. It was a good way of ensuring he could keep up with me.

I didn't even mind too much that he put his feet up and let me do all the pedalling up the Caen Locks towpath.

 

[screenman]

I quite often see an elderly couple on a tandem round here. They are out every day no matter the weather. It gets you out of the house. There are a lot of hills here, so for elderly people 2 are better than 1. And they use it to do their shopping. They seem to enjoy it so why not?

Not my cup of tea, but each to his own sort of thing.

Oddly they are often harder to get up hills on them if my memory serves me correctly.

 

[welsh dragon]

Oddly they are often harder to get up hills on them if my memory serves me correctly.

Really? These two seem to fly up a particularly long steep hill.

 

[cisamcgu]

By definition you travel at the same speed; communication is easy; you have a shared accomplishment and is brilliant fun.

Climbing hills is harder, or at least slower, but that is the only downside; we adore ours.

 

[Ian H]

Tandems are faster than solos. Tandem racing — though neither of us were that fast on solos, on the tandem we were always under the hour and often won.

Touring on a tandem, we carried both kids and luggage.

tandem tt

• Ian H
• 28 May 2018

 

[TheCyclingRooster]

I have never ridden tandem myself but I can see the many advantages of having one - several have already been mentioned there are however disadvantages to having one also.
Storage,transportation when needed are just two of those that I can easily identify.

 

[Soltydog]

I often thought about getting one, so the better half could tag along, but when looking at 'cheaper' ones they were bought by someone hoping their partner would join them, they had little or no use, so were selling them on. I thought I'd be in same position so didn't buy one, until a couple of years ago when my wife suggested it. We bought a used one & rode it once, it scared her to death & she didn't want to ride it again. Was planning on selling it this year, then at the weekend, she asked to go out on it Been out last couple of days, just a short 7.5 mile ride, but it's a start. Takes a bit of getting used to & wouldn't fancy any hills on it just yet, but it's flat as a pancake round here, so until she's ready for a 50 miler we wont have to worry about hills
We've averaged 14 & 15 mph on the tandem, not sure my wife would be upto those speeds on her own at the moment, so it keeps us together on rides, maybe not always a good thing

 

[User10119]

It's all about the bickering, isn't it?

 

[Ian H]

[QUOTE 5259755, member: 45"]Much faster downhill, faster on the flat, slower uphill.

They're fun.[/QUOTE]
Not always slower uphill. I know a few well-matched tandem partners who can lamp it uphill at least as fast as solos.

 

[srw]

[QUOTE 5259765, member: 10119"]It's all about the bickering, isn't it?[/QUOTE]
Only if you bicker off the bike. We managed a three-week, 1100 mile ride with only one serious strop.

Others have explained as well as I can the advantages. Yes, there are disadvantages - cost, transport issues, increased wear and tear on components, slight trickiness to set up - and in groups you take longer to set off after a break, but overall they're a great way of equalising unequal partners.