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



## Dave7 (28 May 2018)

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


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## biggs682 (28 May 2018)

Dave7 said:


> 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


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## screenman (28 May 2018)

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


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## welsh dragon (28 May 2018)

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.


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## Heltor Chasca (28 May 2018)

Very fast. So fast. Cripes they are fast.


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## smutchin (28 May 2018)

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.


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## screenman (28 May 2018)

welsh dragon said:


> 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.


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## welsh dragon (28 May 2018)

screenman said:


> 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.


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## cisamcgu (28 May 2018)

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.


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## Ian H (28 May 2018)

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


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## TheCyclingRooster (28 May 2018)

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.


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## Soltydog (28 May 2018)

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


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## User10119 (28 May 2018)

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


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## Ian H (28 May 2018)

[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.


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## srw (28 May 2018)

[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.


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## SkipdiverJohn (28 May 2018)

A slight saving in bike weight per rider and a huge aerodynamic gain as you've got 2 "engines" but the same frontal area.
I'm sure someone will correct me if wrong, but didn't some clubs run TT's for tandems in the old days, and weren't tandem winning times significantly faster than solo times?


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## User10119 (28 May 2018)

srw said:


> Only if you bicker off the bike. We managed a three-week, 1100 mile ride with only one serious strop.



My l'il sis once stoked for me to get the tandem back home from Mam's house - I'm very proud to this day that we happily managed the best part of 20 miles with NO bickering, despite me being a left-foot-down-to-stop kinda gal, with a tendency to mash a big gear, and her being a wrong-foot-downer with a fondness for spinning


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## User10119 (28 May 2018)

Slightly more seriously, our Circe Helios is quite simply the best thing we've ever bought. It's been the main transport for the SmallectCub and I for several years. We ride to school, and then I carry on stokerless to work. We've done day rides, and a mini camping tour and (with me, CrinklyAuntie and the EldestCub on solos and CrinklyUncle piloting with the SmallestCub stoking) even a 50km audax. The EldestCub did a FNRttC stoking for his uncle when he was 11 or 12, as well as a handful of 100k audaxes. The tandem has made all those things possible. I've also introduced a fair few kids to the joys of stoking, and lent the bike to a number of visitors too.

I've also stoked for a couple of other people, including my first ever real tandem experience which was the DunRun back in 2010. It's probably a slightly silly thing to make your first go at stoking one that involves riding 120 miles overnight on a bike you've never ridden before (apart from once round the block somewhere in London a few weeks in advance to check if you can reach the pedals), with a chap you've only met a couple of times, using clipless pedals for the first time ever. It was fine,apart from the nasty sunburn  What I discovered on that occasion was that a tandem made riding in London possible for me - I couldn't have handled that at all on the solo.


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## screenman (29 May 2018)

SkipdiverJohn said:


> A slight saving in bike weight per rider and a huge aerodynamic gain as you've got 2 "engines" but the same frontal area.
> I'm sure someone will correct me if wrong, but didn't some clubs run TT's for tandems in the old days, and weren't tandem winning times significantly faster than solo times?



We still run tandem and trike weekends, with a 10 and 25 tt involved.


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## Julia9054 (29 May 2018)

[QUOTE 5259797, member: 10119"]being a wrong-foot-downer[/QUOTE]
I've been the stoker on a tandem with a friend a couple of times. I am very strongly left handed/sided and found setting off on the wrong foot was a lot harder than you'd think.


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## rvw (29 May 2018)

Julia9054 said:


> I've been the stoker on a tandem with a friend a couple of times. I am very strongly left handed/sided and found setting off on the wrong foot was a lot harder than you'd think.


I'm also strongly left-foot-down and even though I seldom actually unclip at junctions, it matters. It just fees _so _wrong when the bike leans the wrong way!

Other (less important) tandem benefits to those mentioned already: on narrow high bridges (eg on cycle paths crossing roads) a stoker who doesn't like heights can safely avoid looking at anything at all. And I am better up hills if I can't see how bad it is!


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## Dave 123 (29 May 2018)

Only just seen this thread.

Mrs Dave was never really encouraged to do anything sporty as a kid, a family friend took her swimming, she's a million miles better at swimming than me. She also grew up in Devon, to say it's hilly is an understatement. Cycling never featured.

We met in college in 1989. I grew up on a bike. One day we loaned a couple of bikes from people and went for a ride. Within 50 yds she was sweating, red faced, struggling and fighting against it.

In the meantime she's ridden a bit, but not much, but she liked the idea of doing a bit of cycling. She bought a decent bike and started from there.
My two brothers have had tandems for years, I started saying about us going out on one of them, she agreed. We did better than that, we bought a second hand one on ebay, the rest is well documented on this website.

What does it give?

It gives 2 people with vastly differing abilities the opportunity to do it together. We both enjoy the countryside, birdwatching, flower spotting, cake eating, seeing new towns and villages, exercise and spending time in each others company. That wouldn't be possible on solo bikes.

Having said that she's getting strong on a solo bike, just having done a 65 mile night ride for charity on Sat/Sun just gone. So a tandem also gives the weaker partner time in the saddle to improve their cycling ability.

As the stronger rider I never like to push it, making it hard for the other person would be counter productive.

It also gives others a lot too. We are forever getting waves, smiles, positive comments and good vibes from the people around us.

And flying down hill at 50mph takes some beating!


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## Julia9054 (29 May 2018)

How do you transport a tandem if you don't always want to set off from home?


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## Dave 123 (29 May 2018)

Julia9054 said:


> How do you transport a tandem if you don't always want to set off from home?


When we bought our second hand one it came with a roof carrier for the car.
We have a Pendle 

https://www.tandems.co.uk/m10b0s21p0/Car-Racks/Roof-Mounted


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## Ian H (29 May 2018)

[QUOTE 5259797, member: 10119"]My l'il sis once stoked for me to get the tandem back home from Mam's house - I'm very proud to this day that we happily managed the best part of 20 miles with NO bickering, despite me being a left-foot-down-to-stop kinda gal, with a tendency to mash a big gear, and her being a wrong-foot-downer with a fondness for spinning [/QUOTE]

Ideally only the pilot puts a foot down. The stoker stays clipped in.


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## User10119 (29 May 2018)

Ian H said:


> Ideally only the pilot puts a foot down. The stoker stays clipped in.


At junctions and the like, yes. When getting on and off we discovered it was a touch tricky that we use opposite sides! I found a technique tho - I'd stop, with left foot down, then plant myself firmly and tip the bike slightly the other way so she could get a foot down and get off the other side. And assembly was the reversal of disassembly


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## Julia9054 (29 May 2018)

Ian H said:


> Ideally only the pilot puts a foot down. The stoker stays clipped in.


Tricky to stay upright if the stoker is heavier than the pilot


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## Nigel-YZ1 (29 May 2018)

Saw a couple on one up past Winscar on saturday. They seemed to be enjoying it - despite the fact I think they'd just climbed from Holmfirth.


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## swansonj (29 May 2018)

i suggest that the alleged slowness of tandems up hill is up there with the alleged higher efficiency of clipless pedals in terms of dispute as to whether it is real or not and if so as to the causes.


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## adamhearn (30 May 2018)

I can see riding a tandem for a couple of reasons... those who want to share the ride (much nicer than shouting behind only to realise that you've left your riding partner way back) and added performance (assuming both parties are actively pedalling - likely not the case if the tandem is being used to share with someone less able).

The worse part is (I assume) like being pillion on a motorcycle - whoever is behind can't see much up front and has limited control over proceedings.

Solo riding for me whatever the 2 wheeled option is!


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## User10119 (30 May 2018)

adamhearn said:


> whoever is behind can't see much up front and has limited control over proceedings



That's why I could ride a bike in London, when the bike in question was a tandem with me on the back at least. It's also ace for night-riding, I discovered, because you can stare at the stars as much as you like and it still won't be your fault if you crash because it isn't your job to look where you're going


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## Julia9054 (30 May 2018)

As a control freak i found not being completely in charge of my own destiny disconcerting!


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## Milzy (30 May 2018)

People did the Fred Whitton on them without walking up hard knot. Amazing.


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## User10119 (30 May 2018)

Julia9054 said:


> As a control freak i found not being completely in charge of my own destiny disconcerting!


Horses for courses, innit 

I have one mate who always said there was only one seat for her on a tandem, and it was the front one. Assorted kids on the back over the years, I believe.

Then she met her current partner and they discovered that she trusted him (as a cyclist, rather than as a hooman bean iyswim) sufficiently to give it a go, and liked it. They ended up LELing and BPBing on it! You do need to be confident that the person at the controls is _at least_ as good a cyclist as you, I think. Of course for me that includes pretty much everyone


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## jongooligan (30 May 2018)

Julia9054 said:


> How do you transport a tandem if you don't always want to set off from home?



See Tandems on roof bars thread.


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## Tim Hall (31 May 2018)

Dogtrousers said:


> I have memories of tugging at those terrifyingly fixed, non-steery handlebars, and comforting myself that when we did crash, my lunatic mate on the front would be dedder than me.


I rode the front (stoker) seat of my Pino once with a fearless descender occupying the rear (pilot) seat. We went down Whitedown Lane (the one off Ranmore Common) ever so quickly. I may have closed my eyes.

Later that day we were making good progress going at about R17 descending Staple Lane, heading north. A combination of over enthusiastic piloting, wet road and adverse camber saw us both sliding down the road on our bums.


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## T4tomo (31 May 2018)

Julia9054 said:


> How do you transport a tandem if you don't always want to set off from home?


that is a major downside unless you get something like a circe Helios. Or are into roof racks. The best advantage is the equalling up or sharing of efforts of two unequal riders.


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## Sixmile (31 May 2018)

When I was in my early teens a distant relative lent our family their Peugeot tandem. I remember heading out for 20 or 30 mile spins on the thing with my da, much further than I would've dared head on my own bike at that age. It was a pretty crap view though from the back and my da had a tendency to stand up and fart in my face for a laugh but then got really angry if I used the word 'fart' to ask him to stop.

The only tandems I see around here now are the group that take blind folk out on the back of tandems. It must be some thrill for someone who has been blind or partially sighted to go out on a bike at 30mph+.


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## srw (31 May 2018)

T4tomo said:


> that is a major downside unless you get something like a circe Helios


Or S&S couplings


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## Blue Hills (1 Jun 2018)

welsh dragon said:


> 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.


nice. Long may they prosper/pedal on.

Have often thought that you need a particularly good relationship to tandem - praps that chimp was on to something - the litmus test - met a nice person on a recent cchat ride who picked up a tandem particularly cheap as the couple of riders were getting divorced.

edit - a less nice impression of tandems - was once cycling on hire bikes with a then gf in the peak district on one of the traffic free cycle trails (forget which of thw two linked ones) and a couple on a tandem appeared at speed around a shallow bend and crashed into us bending her wheel and making the bike unrideable. Disgraceful. They should have been shot by the Universal Tandem Authority if such a thing exists. Only nice thing about the abandoned trip was that the bike hire outfit on the trail didn't charge us any excess for the trashed wheel.

edit edit (and it must be in this bit of the forum anyway)

the clip


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqNnPrxzm3g


remembered from my childhood

caution - have it on mute - clip has not been checked by the gender police.


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## Blue Hills (1 Jun 2018)

Heltor Chasca said:


> Very fast. So fast. Cripes they are fast.


yes - working back through the thread - see my other post about a collision with a couple of *** on one. Always had the idea that tandem riders were universally nice sensible sandalled souls until that experience. They could have _ and I'm not exaggerating - killed someone - that trail had lots of children on it.


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## Blue Hills (1 Jun 2018)

by the by, and apropos of their undoubted speed, why is there no tandem riding sports cycling?

or olympic events?

Am sure it would be a welcome spectacle - and it could be mixed which would be kinda nice.


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## Blue Hills (3 Jun 2018)

Dogtrousers said:


> Tandem cycling was an Olympic event until 1972 (that is, tandem as in bicycle made for two, not tandem as in pair of riders)


Sorry, heat getting to me, don't understand the distinction.


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## Blue Hills (3 Jun 2018)

Ah ok, thanks, maybe I very vaguely remember it.

Single sex tandem riding I assume.


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## Tim Hall (3 Jun 2018)

There's lots of tandem cycling in the Paralympics.


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## stoatsngroats (5 Jun 2018)

Had one for 4 years, including aGuersney tour, and many local rides in Sussex. Never had any strops from the stoker, just the occasional realisation that she was not holding on as she was using a camera!
The tandem effect for us was to balance our strength, so she was always close by, rather than me slowing or waiting to keep close.
It was fantastic fun, even on the days I would have to lift it over an occasional stile Ona favourite ride home.
We travelled from Sussex to South Wales to pick ours up, travelled home, and rode 30 mile s that first day.
I would have another, without too much thought, if space allowed.
View media item 10553


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## dantheman (8 Jun 2018)

I'd love to try a tandem, I often bring it up to the wife (she won't cycle). She would just sit with her feet of pedalling, and I'd fart in her face for doing it hahaha. 

Obviously being the big fat windbreak that I am I'd be in front. 

They're so expensive though, due to demand/numbers I suppose, so same reason as why I don't have a recumbent trike (oh yes they looklikefun)


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## fuboab (8 Jun 2018)

[QUOTE 5261612, member: 10119"]Horses for courses, innit 

I have one mate who always said there was only one seat for her on a tandem, and it was the front one. Assorted kids on the back over the years, I believe.

Then she met her current partner and they discovered that she trusted him (as a cyclist, rather than as a hooman bean iyswim) sufficiently to give it a go, and liked it. They ended up LELing and BPBing on it! You do need to be confident that the person at the controls is _at least_ as good a cyclist as you, I think. Of course for me that includes pretty much everyone [/QUOTE]

Are my ears burning?

Transport: we bought a van. Storage: That's what the garage is for. It's no more difficult to store two tandems than in is the other 9 bikes we're not riding today.


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## User10119 (8 Jun 2018)

fuboab said:


> Are my ears burning?


Perhaps a touch warm 

I was the opposite - there was no way I could imagine piloting, because that requires actual competence. But cycling with my kids made me a MUCH more assertive cyclist, and experimentation with a tagalong showed me that the littly stoking was A Good Plan for us, although the mtb+tagalong wasn't ideal because it tended to need more upper body strength to control, which my once-bust elbow objected to. The ultra-stable Helios is much more comfortable, and handles fine with nobody on the back too.


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## stoatsngroats (10 Jun 2018)

dantheman said:


> I'd love to try a tandem..../...They're so expensive though, due to demand/numbers I suppose, so same reason as why I don't have a recumbent trike (oh yes they looklikefun)


Ours was used and £400 or thereabouts, which is cheap for a tandem, although a new Viking isn’t much more.
Good enough to start with maybe? If you like it and it works for you both, you can then buy a more expensive one


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## User10119 (13 Jun 2018)

Facebook 'memories' inform me that it was 8 years ago that I first had a go on the back of a tandem


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## Tim Hall (13 Jun 2018)

dantheman said:


> I'd love to try a tandem, I often bring it up to the wife (she won't cycle). She would just sit with her feet of pedalling, and I'd fart in her face for doing it hahaha.
> 
> Obviously being the big fat windbreak that I am I'd be in front.
> 
> They're so expensive though, due to demand/numbers I suppose, so same reason as why I don't have a recumbent trike (oh yes they looklikefun)


The last tandem I bought was a Dawes Super Galaxy from a nice woman on Gumtree for four hundred and fifty notes. Not ever so expensive.


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## dantheman (13 Jun 2018)

I realise that isn't a lot of money to a lot of people, but when your wages disappear each month, yet you don't go out/drink/smoke or even drive a car, then it's hard to spend that amount for what is basically another bike (it's also more than any of my 3 current bikes cost me) 

Hopefully things will change and in the future I can have a tandem and a recumbant, as I've found with my other bikes, if you know what you want and are willing to wait then bargain secondhand steeds do come up. 

Also, I actually meant they're expensive by comparison to a regular bike - for a given spec etc..


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## Milzy (13 Jun 2018)

fuboab said:


> Are my ears burning?
> 
> Transport: we bought a van. Storage: That's what the garage is for. It's no more difficult to store two tandems than in is the other 9 bikes we're not riding today.


Sell the bikes on here.


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## mistyoptic (24 Jun 2018)

Only way to travel. We can have a conversation without having to be side-by-side on today's roads. She always keeps up and never goes the wrong way unless I chose it 
Transport is a bit tricky yes but we have a Pendle carrier and that works well although it's a two person lift onto the roof (hang on, there ARE two of us - how convenient). Have carried it confidently at motorway speeds for up to 200 miles.


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## saoirse50 (25 Jul 2018)

I ride a tandem at Herne Hill Velodrome with partially sighted stokers. Great fun.


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## swansonj (25 Jul 2018)

Tim Hall said:


> The last tandem I bought was a Dawes Super Galaxy from a nice woman on Gumtree for four hundred and fifty notes. Not ever so expensive.


Were the notes five pound, ten pound or twenty pound notes?


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## Time Waster (17 Aug 2018)

My take on this is for touring with a young child it's possible to go further with a tandem. That makes issues like where to camp less stressful because you can do those longer days where you have no choice due to lack of campsites closer together.


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## FLYINGGATER (11 Sep 2018)

I had a Claude Butler SWB as a teenager was very fast on all terrains including hills. Would share F and R positions when riding with mates. Also covered many miles with a Blind stoker. She was very light and Strong. Other than a holiday in Jersey before we were married, my other half has not been so interested. Took my Tandem Trike along to the Village fate and gave rides at a pound a time, that was very hard work


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## FolderBeholder (26 Sep 2018)

The Missus and I had one. Through some form of (perceived) natural selection I was always the Capt. 
With great title comes great responsibility. Planning one's turns was the rule, not the exception.

I nicknamed it the "*Tantanic*".

It's lonnng gone and I don' miss it.


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## BobS (3 Oct 2018)

Dave7 said:


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



For us it about equalisation, we both get a good ride at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if one is stronger or fitter tahn the other.

bob


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## MrBeanz (25 Jan 2019)

My wife is actually pretty good on her single so she rides it more than the tandem. But if the wind forecast says 45 mph wind with 60 MPH gusts, we take the tandem. 

Other times when she has been off the bike for a month or so (ill family stuff) I'll take her on the tandem to spin her legs back up to speed.


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## Ming the Merciless (25 Jan 2019)

Julia9054 said:


> How do you transport a tandem if you don't always want to set off from home?



You ride to the start.


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## Ming the Merciless (25 Jan 2019)

A blind friend gets to enjoy blasts out on his tandem. Sometimes he goes on the front for a laugh, provided it is somewhere quiet. Cruising on the flat above 20mph is easy and we give it some welly uphill. It's a bit like a supertanker though on twisty


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## MrBeanz (26 Jan 2019)

It is faster for my stoker as well (back seat for the newbs). 

Our usual ride on the trail is 44 miles. My wife has done well on her single bike averaging 17.5 MPH. 

A Strava segment that comes at the end of our ride, she has pushed herself to a 20.9 MPH average speed over the final 7.3 miles of the ride (my favorite segment). On the tandem, she has posted a 22.5 MPH average on Strava. 1.5 MPH faster on the segment. As far as over the entire 44 miles, about the same gain on the tandem as far as overall speed.

On the climbs of 6%-7%, I am slower compared to my single but she is about 1 MPH faster so it evens out and we both get to the top at the same time.


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## rogerzilla (27 Jan 2019)

Taking one anywhere, other than on rides which start and finish at home, is pretty tricky. A few years ago you could put them on trains, but not any more (actually, getting any bike on a train is a challenge now). They're also rather tricky to transport by car; you need to modify roof racks or do some serious dismantling to try to get the frame inside an estate car.


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## rvw (28 Jan 2019)

S&S couplings are the answer (granted, not a cheap option) which means that getting a tandem into an estate car is doable. We've got to the point where I can get ours into or out of the car single handed. 

A couple of years ago, my brother in law rang on a Saturday morning to ask how long our tandem was: he worked for Scotrail and they were trying to estimate whether they could permit them on some of the local trains west out of Glasgow. We told him, but suggested he should hire one and try getting it on and off at the various stations, with video of the attempt: he didn't take us up on that. Which was a shame, it would have been fun to watch him try...

We have in fact managed to blag our way onto trains, usually by saying 'it comes apart - we can dismantle it once we are on'. Sometimes we even do that. But UK trains are generally unfriendly, unlike one Belgian one where we stashed it in the lobby, and each time the ticket collector came round he happily stepped over it without the slightest complaint.


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## MrBeanz (28 Jan 2019)

I never thought it was difficult transporting a tandem to a ride. I have a pick up truck is it fits in the back just fine, front wheel removed onto a bar rack across the bed.

Also I have transported it several times on a small car as small as a Plymouth Neon. Rear rack, remove front wheel (fairly usual) then removed the rear wheel. Bike was perfectly balanced on the rack, didn't protrude the sides of the car by an inch, and used an old skewer in place of the rear wheel to hold the chain up in place.

So more than the usual, only thing I did more was remove the rear wheel which is really easy though some may consider it a major chore. Never had a problem so it was really easy IMO.


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## rogerzilla (30 Jan 2019)

MrBeanz, you can fit _Britain_ in an average American car!


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## MrBeanz (30 Jan 2019)

rogerzilla said:


> MrBeanz, you can fit _Britain_ in an average American car!



Ah Ok! Some of us Americans are unfamiliar with the terms.


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## Ming the Merciless (30 Jan 2019)

MrBeanz said:


> Ah Ok! Some of us Americans are unfamiliar with the terms.



You would spend a lot of time reversing in your pick up truck as you met traffic coming the other way. Not an appropriately sized vehicle for vast majority of our roads. Besides we don't have cheap fuel compared to you guys. Hence transporting tandems is harder work.


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## MrBeanz (31 Jan 2019)

YukonBoy said:


> You would spend a lot of time reversing in your pick up truck as you met traffic coming the other way. Not an appropriately sized vehicle for vast majority of our roads. Besides we don't have cheap fuel compared to you guys. Hence transporting tandems is harder work.


Just how small are your cars? The Plymouth Neon I mentioned is a pretty small car. ;-)


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## MontyVeda (31 Jan 2019)

MrBeanz said:


> Just how small are your cars? The Plymouth Neon I mentioned is a pretty small car. ;-)








that looks average to me.

this is what we call small...


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## Ming the Merciless (31 Jan 2019)

MrBeanz said:


> Just how small are your cars? The Plymouth Neon I mentioned is a pretty small car. ;-)



Have you seen down sizing?


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## Bonefish Blues (31 Jan 2019)

Ours goes into our Volvo estate or on the Pendle rack on the roof.


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## MrBeanz (31 Jan 2019)

MontyVeda said:


> View attachment 449934
> 
> that looks average to me.
> 
> ...



Looking up the dimensions, the Neon is 3 inches longer than a Renault estate car I looked up as I am not familiar with estate cars. But it is also 3 inches more narrow. So fitting a tandem across the back of a narrow Neon being 3 inches more narrow, I don't see it a problem strapping a tandem across an estate car with the wheels removed. I use a Saris Bat Rack.

Maybe the Neon looks average in the pic but it is a very low profile small car.


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## MontyVeda (1 Feb 2019)

MrBeanz said:


> Looking up the dimensions, the Neon is 3 inches longer than a Renault estate car I looked up as I am not familiar with estate cars. But it is also 3 inches more narrow. So fitting a tandem across the back of a narrow Neon being 3 inches more narrow, I don't see it a problem strapping a tandem across an estate car with the wheels removed. I use a Saris Bat Rack.
> 
> Maybe the Neon looks average in the pic but it is a very low profile small car.


The neon is average in the UK. An estate is a big car in the UK. Last time i was in the USA, some of the 'cars' looked like they needed an HGV license!


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## rvw (1 Feb 2019)

The car we can get the tandem in is a Ford C-Max but we also have one of these (Toyota IQ - makes the Aygo look big) :





You get a choice - rear passenger seats _or _boot, but not both. I have however managed to get a solo bike in this!


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## rogerzilla (1 Feb 2019)

The biggest selling personal vehicle in the USA is the Ford F150. In fact, Ford only makes one vehicle that we would call a "car" for the US market now, and it's the 5 litre Mustang. Everything else is a truck or SUV.

A Ford F150 is too big for UK parking spaces and many UK roads, and the best claimed mpg is 23 miles per US gallon (just under 29 mpg here). Doomed? Yes, we are.


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## Illaveago (3 Feb 2019)

TheCyclingRooster said:


> 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.


I bought one which deals with the storage transportation part quite easily. It is a Coventry Eagle convertable. Once it was dismantled I carried it home in the back of my car and that was without lowering the back seats. I haven't yet got it going but it can also be used as a solo machine so it is versatile.


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## mostly harmless (9 Feb 2019)

I got my tandem as a bit of an impulse purchase from my local bankrupt stock shop for 400euro. It's been great, done over 2500km with it since last March, mainly sub 20km rides to take/pick up my daughter.


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## MrBeanz (12 Feb 2019)

Advantages:

I'm a stronger climber than she is so if we ride the hills, the tandem equals out the pace.






IF we ride at night, I have full controls and feel safer about her being out on the road at night.






If we're riding and a boat load of people hop on the back, I don't have to worry about her getting lost in the mix.






If my back itches, I got someone to scratch it!


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## Illaveago (12 Feb 2019)

MrBeanz said:


> Advantages:
> 
> I'm a stronger climber than she is so if we ride the hills, the tandem equals out the pace.
> 
> ...


Just make sure they are on board before you set off !


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## cisamcgu (12 Feb 2019)

MrBeanz said:


> IF we ride at night, I have full controls and feel safer about her being out on the road at night.
> 
> If we're riding and a boat load of people hop on the back, I don't have to worry about her getting lost in the mix.



Is your wife unable to steer a bicycle in the dark, or cope without being next to you ?


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## MrBeanz (12 Feb 2019)

cisamcgu said:


> Is your wife unable to steer a bicycle in the dark, or cope without being next to you ?



Well we are flying downhill in the dark at 30 MPH. I feel better being in control and knowing where she is at all times and knowing she won't hit my wheel if she's on her single bike. I am also a very defensive rider and feel my handling skills are better than hers though she is a really good rider. I just don't want any silly mistakes at night in the dark.

Keeping the wife safe is an advantage!


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