Tandem opinions

The wife and I are a year away from a tandem. We know nothing about them at
this point.
Weight and speed are not big issues. Touring, low gearing, carrying
capacity and comfort are issues. Not interested on one that folds.

My preference would be to get the frame and have my LBS build it up from
their. I have a very good relationship with my bike-builder and my
wheel-builder and it's worth the little bit extra to get exactly what I
want rather than have the thing come in a box with a lot of stuff on it I'd
like to get rid of.

All opinions/experiences appreciated.

Thanks
bob

Thu, 25 Sep 2003 03:22:13 GMT,
. net, "bb"
wrote:

The wife and I are a year away from a tandem. We know nothing about them at
this point.
Weight and speed are not big issues. Touring, low gearing, carrying
capacity and comfort are issues. Not interested on one that folds.

My preference would be to get the frame and have my LBS build it up from
their. I have a very good relationship with my bike-builder and my
wheel-builder and it's worth the little bit extra to get exactly what I
want rather than have the thing come in a box with a lot of stuff on it I'd
like to get rid of.

I think you'd be better off to buy a used one and ride it for a year.
Then you'd have a better idea of what you really want and whether you
even like riding a tandem.
--
zk

bb wrote:

The wife and I are a year away from a tandem. We know nothing about them at
this point.
Weight and speed are not big issues. Touring, low gearing, carrying
capacity and comfort are issues. Not interested on one that folds.

My preference would be to get the frame and have my LBS build it up from
their. I have a very good relationship with my bike-builder and my
wheel-builder and it's worth the little bit extra to get exactly what I
want rather than have the thing come in a box with a lot of stuff on it I'd
like to get rid of.

All opinions/experiences appreciated.

My sister and bro-in-law just bought a Burley tandem and like it a lot.
But...they rented one a few times first before actually buying.

I've heard a few horror stories of people buying tandems only to find
it was a more demanding enterprise (the actual riding) than they were
really comfortable with. It takes coordination, subordination and
compromise to ride one and even the best relationships can be tested
by using one!

Just talked to a couple three weeks ago who owned a tandem for one day!
They didn't like it, and the new Burley my sister bought was actually
second hand with perhaps only a 100 miles on it. It wasn't the ride
the first owners thought it would be.

Rent a tandem and test your relationship with your captain/stoker, then
buy if you're still talking.


SMH

"bb" wrote in message link.net...
The wife and I are a year away from a tandem. We know nothing about them at
this point.
Weight and speed are not big issues. Touring, low gearing, carrying
capacity and comfort are issues. Not interested on one that folds.

My preference would be to get the frame and have my LBS build it up from
their. I have a very good relationship with my bike-builder and my
wheel-builder and it's worth the little bit extra to get exactly what I
want rather than have the thing come in a box with a lot of stuff on it I'd
like to get rid of.

All opinions/experiences appreciated.


I have to agree with the opinion that you and your wife first rent or
borrow one in order to find out if you will like it. My wife and I
bought one (used) and we love it but riding it is different from a
single bike. Besides the obvious, like the fact that you can't
independently coast and the captain has to alert the stoker about
upcoming bumps, I can add a case in point. Once our timing chain
broke when we were still about 10 miles from home. Being the stronger
rider I offered to become the stoker while my wife steered. I never
imagined how much trust the stoker must have in the captain. When the
bike started to lean and I couldn't correct for it (since the stoker
can't steer) I had this extremely strong urge to jump off.

As to your other questions, I think having a tandem set up with the
gearing and accessories that you want is a good idea. I did that with
our tandem. Buying the frame and components separately a good way to
do that.

Good luck,
Tom

Regarding the rent first before buying issue: My LBS owner expressed the
same reservations and will loan us his for as long as it takes to figure out
if we still want one when the time comes. His wife can't stand it.

bob


"Thomas Reynolds" wrote in message
om...
"bb" wrote in message
link.net...
The wife and I are a year away from a tandem. We know nothing about
them at

I have to agree with the opinion that you and your wife first rent or
borrow one in order to find out if you will like it Good luck,
Tom

My preference would be to get the frame and have my LBS build it up from
their. I have a very good relationship with my bike-builder and my
wheel-builder and it's worth the little bit extra to get exactly what I
want rather than have the thing come in a box with a lot of stuff on it
I'd
like to get rid of.

#1: Tandems can bring out the best in a couple, and sometimes the worst.
Consider that you're essentially riveted to the other person and cannot get
away; he/she can bring up whatever conversation they wish because they have
a captive audience. In my wife's case, it was vacations (something she
thought we didn't do enough of; in retrospect, she was right). The other
fun thing, for us, was that we'd be climbing some really nasty hill, and
she'd be trying to have a conversation with me and actually get mad because
I couldn't, since I was out of breath. Care to tell me what's wrong with
this picture?

#2: Getting a tandem custom-built with exactly what *you* want can be a bad
way to go. If you're looking at a stock bike and thinking, why don't they
spec this or that cool part... well, install this or that cool part and
you'll find out why! I fell into that trap with my first tandem. The
better tandem companies have chosen boring, mundane stuff that actually
works. Tandems are terribly hard on equipment, and a lot of the stuff that
you'd think would work great, dies in the field. So, if you go to a
reputable dealer who sells lots of tandems, their recommendations may be
worthwhile.

--Mike--
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com

"bb" wrote in message
ink.net...
The wife and I are a year away from a tandem. We know nothing about them
at
this point.
Weight and speed are not big issues. Touring, low gearing, carrying
capacity and comfort are issues. Not interested on one that folds.

My preference would be to get the frame and have my LBS build it up from
their. I have a very good relationship with my bike-builder and my
wheel-builder and it's worth the little bit extra to get exactly what I
want rather than have the thing come in a box with a lot of stuff on it
I'd
like to get rid of.

All opinions/experiences appreciated.

Thanks
bob

"bb" wrote in message link.net...
The wife and I are a year away from a tandem. We know nothing about them at
this point.
All opinions/experiences appreciated.

I bought a Cannondale MT2000 tandem in June. It gets ridden by several
combinations: When I ride with my wife or son, I captain. When I ride
with my main biker buddy, I stoke. With riser bars on the back, my wife
can have the upright position she likes, but I can set them low enough
for myself.

In Washington, DC, where we live, we are lucky to be at one end of the C&O
Canal, one of the best bike rides anywhere (but not for a road bike).
I can't afford two tandems, so it's got to be an MTB.
Even so, we're not giving up that much
on the road. My son and I or my pal and I blow away almost all
the single road bikes we encounter. You've got twice the horsepower on
a tandem with less than twice the drag. Even in the MTB configuration,
it is really fast.

We haven't had any conflicts. The captains have been considerate and the
stokers have been trusting. I think it's a good idea for the captain to
spend some time stoking. I actually prefer stoking. I have more confidence
in my captain than I do in myself. All I have to do is pedal and enjoy
the scenery.

You've probably read about the advantages of a tandem: easy conversation and
ability of cyclists of differing abilities to stick together. That has been
the case with us. None of we four who ride it regularly are well-matched
on singles -- one is always waitiing impatiently and the other is struggling
to catch up. But we are perfectly matched on the tandem. It's been a real
dream boat.

Why wait a year.

Pat O'Neil

In article ,
says...
My preference would be to get the frame and have my LBS build it up from
their. I have a very good relationship with my bike-builder and my
wheel-builder and it's worth the little bit extra to get exactly what I
want rather than have the thing come in a box with a lot of stuff on it
I'd
like to get rid of.

#1: Tandems can bring out the best in a couple, and sometimes the worst.
Consider that you're essentially riveted to the other person and cannot get
away; he/she can bring up whatever conversation they wish because they have
a captive audience. In my wife's case, it was vacations (something she
thought we didn't do enough of; in retrospect, she was right). The other
fun thing, for us, was that we'd be climbing some really nasty hill, and
she'd be trying to have a conversation with me and actually get mad because
I couldn't, since I was out of breath. Care to tell me what's wrong with
this picture?

#2: Getting a tandem custom-built with exactly what *you* want can be a bad
way to go. If you're looking at a stock bike and thinking, why don't they
spec this or that cool part... well, install this or that cool part and
you'll find out why! I fell into that trap with my first tandem. The
better tandem companies have chosen boring, mundane stuff that actually
works. Tandems are terribly hard on equipment, and a lot of the stuff that
you'd think would work great, dies in the field. So, if you go to a
reputable dealer who sells lots of tandems, their recommendations may be
worthwhile.

I think the toughest part for my wife and I would be cadence-matching.
I expect the only way we would be successful would be with one which
allowed each of us our own cadence, and those appear to be rather
expensive.

--
Dave Kerber
Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

"David Kerber" wrote in message
...
says...

thought we didn't do enough of; in retrospect, she was right). The
other
fun thing, for us, was that we'd be climbing some really nasty hill, and
she'd be trying to have a conversation with me and actually get mad
because
I couldn't, since I was out of breath. Care to tell me what's wrong
with
this picture?

When it doesn't feel right, I back off too!

I think the toughest part for my wife and I would be cadence-matching.
I expect the only way we would be successful would be with one which
allowed each of us our own cadence, and those appear to be rather
expensive.

True. I'm not a great-spinning super-cyclist but this was a problem.
At a suitable cadence for me, I could feel my "passenger" bouncing.

Would it be possible to have different sized chainrings between front and
back to allow one rider to be always 20% higher cadence than the other.
I imagine it would be odd when starting off, but wondering whether that
would be impractical.

In article ,
says...

"David Kerber" wrote in message
...
says...

thought we didn't do enough of; in retrospect, she was right). The
other
fun thing, for us, was that we'd be climbing some really nasty hill, and
she'd be trying to have a conversation with me and actually get mad
because
I couldn't, since I was out of breath. Care to tell me what's wrong
with
this picture?

When it doesn't feel right, I back off too!

I think the toughest part for my wife and I would be cadence-matching.
I expect the only way we would be successful would be with one which
allowed each of us our own cadence, and those appear to be rather
expensive.

True. I'm not a great-spinning super-cyclist but this was a problem.
At a suitable cadence for me, I could feel my "passenger" bouncing.

Would it be possible to have different sized chainrings between front and
back to allow one rider to be always 20% higher cadence than the other.
I imagine it would be odd when starting off, but wondering whether that
would be impractical.

I would think that would work as long as the timing chain was long
enough to ensure your feet didn't hit each other when you were 180
degrees out of phase on your pedal stroke. It would certainly be
simpler than the solutions I've seen which involve an extra free
wheel.


--
Dave Kerber
Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.