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Old 08-21-12, 03:27 PM
  #3  
tgot 
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: SF Peninsula
Posts: 418

Bikes: 1986 Centurion Ironman, 1997 Trek 2120, Trek T1000

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I have the tandem TAB, hitched behind my regular tandem. There is definitely enough moment-arm and play for the tandem-TAB to swing things around. Tiring and stressfull.

I weigh 190lbs, child stoker is 32 lbs, tandem is 40-45 lbs counting racks with diaperbag and lunch. TAB stoker is ~50lbs, baby-seat occupant is ~25lbs.

One thing that helped was my wife watching, and identifying when the bike lurched. It wasn't the younger kids leaning or turning, it was the TAB-captain switching from coasting to pedalling with a lurch and lean that really rocked the bikes. We're trying to get her to transition more smoothly.

I think I removed the rear cranks so that the baby seat could go lower, but forget exactly how that works.

One thing I noticed pulling single TAB's behind bikes was significant stability differences based on the bike. Pulling single-TAB behind my road bike, which attached high and had a steep seat-tube angle, was much less steady than behind my Mtn bike which attached lower due to the sloping top tube and has a more slack seat-tube. No idea which of those effects caused the stability difference.
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