middleagecyclist
Call me MAC
- Location
- Prestwich, Manchester
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
I want one!
Tandems. What is the attraction?
- Thread starter Cyclopathic
- Start date
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I want one!
briantrumpet
Legendary Member
- Location
- Devon & Die
Thinking of tandems, I've never seen one with the woman on the front and the man on the back. Are they the last bastion of male chauvinism? I would have thought if you're the man on the back, having the sight of a female's shapeliness in front wouldn't be a bad compensation.
Any men out there who have their female partners drive the front of their tandem? (Photo proof welcomed.)
Any men out there who have their female partners drive the front of their tandem? (Photo proof welcomed.)
<hmm, can't get this multi quote thing to work>
Anyway, we have one of those. Like all tandems it descends like a homesick rock. Ears popping, that sort of thing. When we first had it The Girl was riding on the front and reading a book. Her pedalling effort was minimal as all her concentration was taken by the tome in front of her. We took the book away from her at the first stop.
It's more to do with a strength/weight thing. Generally speaking the bloke will tend to be stronger and weigh more than the the lady. Having the stronger person able to control the all up weight of the bike is often a good thing. Having said that friends of ours do it "the other way about"*. She's built like a sparrow, whereas he's about 6 feet tall and powerful with it. As she's the one with the good eyes, she gets to drive.
* which phrase reminds me of a joke.
Wades
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Horley, Surrey
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!
What make/model is this? In fact what do you even call it? Looks amazing!
david k
Hi
- Location
- North West
briantrumpet
Legendary Member
- Location
- Devon & Die
Splendid that there is at least one tandem in the country with the woman in control!
I must admit I don't see the the strength/weight reasoning though: doesn't all the power end up in the same place anyway, and isn't it better to have more weight at the back to give more traction on the rear wheel?
I think it's more to do with steering and handling rather than traction. Or holding the bike steady while the stoker gets clipped in.
growingvegetables
Guru
- Location
- Leeds
I'd rather have the weight where it counts for braking? On the front?
More seriously though, it's the person on the front who can see most, feel most, and do most ...... in that last fraction of second when the lights turn red! You want the bigger and stronger person there on front to hold the bike up when it stops. Male or female - doesn't matter ..... it's the muscles in their thighs that count
Wades
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Horley, Surrey
Thanks. Will have to keep dreaming, looking at them prices!
biggs682
Itching to get back on my bike's
- Location
- Northamptonshire
as my signature says we have a Raleigh Veture + 1 tandem , great fun to ride and very easy compared to other 2 tandems we have owned .
mainly used for 1 school run a week and some father and daughter time that is worth its weight in gold to both involved .
once we replaced the block treaded kenda tyres for some Schwable's road tyres we have gone faster with more control . we normally do between 10 - 18 miles at a time on mixed terrain and normally get up to 15 mph on the flat and 25+ on downhills where i allow it to , hills can be slow work going up as depends on how much talking is going on compared to how hard we are trying .
the tandem takes a lot of my worrying out of cycling with my 10 yr old daughter because i know where she is on the road and i can soon tell how much effort is being made .
the only real issue is transporting it as to heavy for 1 person to lift on to roof of mpv car and onto carrier , also to wide to fit on back of car going across , and difficult to restrain inside car safely .
all in all wicked fun and not to hard to ride solo when needs to be .
mainly used for 1 school run a week and some father and daughter time that is worth its weight in gold to both involved .
once we replaced the block treaded kenda tyres for some Schwable's road tyres we have gone faster with more control . we normally do between 10 - 18 miles at a time on mixed terrain and normally get up to 15 mph on the flat and 25+ on downhills where i allow it to , hills can be slow work going up as depends on how much talking is going on compared to how hard we are trying .
the tandem takes a lot of my worrying out of cycling with my 10 yr old daughter because i know where she is on the road and i can soon tell how much effort is being made .
the only real issue is transporting it as to heavy for 1 person to lift on to roof of mpv car and onto carrier , also to wide to fit on back of car going across , and difficult to restrain inside car safely .
all in all wicked fun and not to hard to ride solo when needs to be .
Ah. Just clocked your location. We're 15 minutes down the road. Want to have a go?
Globalti
Legendary Member
My younger brother (bigger than me) and I tried one but it was a rather skinny-tubed old steel framed tandem and it flexed a lot. It was a horribly disconcerting feeling a bit like sitting on a farm gate so we didn't enjoy that one.
In Bury there's a tandem club for blind riders; I looked into it but it requires quite a lot of commitment of time so I backed out.
In Bury there's a tandem club for blind riders; I looked into it but it requires quite a lot of commitment of time so I backed out.
Fiona N
Veteran
I have piloted a tandem with a blind stoker and it's quite a lot of effort controlling them compared to a solo bike - especially when it's a racing tandem with two racing cyclists on board
So I reckon the answer is two-fold - most tandems seem to be constructed with the place for the larger rider at the front and in a male/female pairing, the stronger is likely to be the male thus the more obvious candidate for the pilot.
Is there some reason why conventional (as opposed to that recumbent / upright mash-up - which I do like - I've seen them around from time to time especially in Germany/CH) tandems have the bigger rider at the front - is it some limitation of the design or merely convention?
