In article ,
wrote:

John Foltz wrote:

: Bikes or riders? I ask because for most tandem couples, they each
: also have their own 'half bikes.' There are about 800 active riders

I was thinking one explanation could have been female mobility.
Ie. in Finland women would have their own bike for
self-sufficiency while in the US they'd ride the tandem to
accompany the male in the family, but I guess this theory flies
out of the window now...

Maybe females over here don't ride with their male that often,
group rides seem to be predominantly male.

Or maybe US people just have the extra money to blow on a tandem?

Why would tandems have a disadvantage in hilly terrain?

Tandems are at a disadvantage in hilly terrain because coordinating
pedal cadence gets harder with the higher pedal loads of uphill travel,
and it's really hard to climb out of the saddle.

Really good tandem teams will do this stuff well enough to compete with
solos on all but the steepest climbs, but it's hard work compared to the
ease with which tandems outrun solo bikes on the flats.

On descents, most tandemists are concerned about having too much speed,
--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club