I'm 6"1 and my wife is 5'0-what choices do we have?

[markman]

We're thinking about getting a tandem. I'm a fairly serious roadie (about 3k/year) and my wife is not but she does like 30-40 mile rides from time to time. We'd use the bike for charity rides around the Chicago area, nothing too serious. The issue as we see it is the difference in our sizes. Can we find a decent tandem off the shelf without having to do something custom? Which companies should we be looking at and what price can we expect to pay?

[LuisB]

Cannondale has a road tandem which comes in 5 sizes and retails for $2,300.00. Check out their website for more information on geometry.

[Michel Gagnon]

Co-Motion offers 23"/18" frames, plus custom sizes.

[dfcas]

We just purchased a Cannondale X/S.I'm 6'1" and my shortest kid is 52",wife is 5'5".The kid can ride it with crank shorteners,and the wife is good with a suspension seatpost.Solid frame,great disc brakes,tire clearance well into the 40's on a road tandem.Retail $2300 for the whole bike.Great value.

dan

[Mr_Super_Socks]

bike friday tandems are hugely customizable due to their design. a bit pricey, but you can travel with them too, which is great. good luck

[velopresto]

My wife and I have a similar height disparity (6'0" and 5'0") and have had great fun on our stock 56/53cm Santana Arriva (coincidentally for sale now) which fits us both well (adjustable stoker stem helps her with what might otherwise be a long reach). Not surprisingly, there is not a lot of seatpost (~1") showing from the stoker seat tube. Standover height is not an issue as she remains clipped in and seated while stopped for lights, etc. Bottom line is I'm confident you can find a good fit without resorting to a ($$$) custom.

[zonatandem]

Co-Motion, Burley, C'dale, Bike Friday (among others) build size L x S combos.

[Wamprunner]

I too am thinking about getting a tandem for the wife and I. We have the same size disparity. I'm 6'0", she is 5'0". I am currently looking into a Trek T900. It's listed as having 18.5"/14.5" seattubes. Unforutnately, if I want this particular bike, I would be getting it without either of us actually test riding it. Does anyone know if this bike should be able to fit us? We are planning to use it for very casual riding on roads and bike paths doing distances of usually not more then 30 miles or so.

[zonatandem]

Wamprunner:
Depending on pilot's leg length, the 18.5 would be on the short side; you'd likely have to jack up your seatpost to the max and you'd have an issue with bar/stem height.
I am a 5'7" pilot and ride a 20.5 frame.
The 14.5 for your 5' stoker should be OK.
Don't get it unless you can test ride it, is our opinion.

[Wamprunner]

Zonatandem:
I hear what you're saying and I appreciate the feedback. The problem is that there is no way for me to test ride the bike before I would have to buy it.

I was actually more concerned about the stoker frame size then the pilot frame size. The reason being that I've also been shopping a few Mountain bikes for myself to replace my 20 yr old Marukin Northstar. My old Marukin has a 21" frame size which is 2" shorter then my road bike size of 23". However, I've noticed that some of the newer mountain bikes have frame sizes that only range from 15" to 19". So, I'm guessing that mountain bikes have changed or sizing requirements have changed such that average sized people typically use smaller frame sizes that they use too. At least for moutain style bikes. I think the T900 is more of the off-road or at least a crossover style (rather then road style). So, I was figuring that the 18.5" pilot size would be adequate for me. Maybe, I'm making some wrong assumtions here???... not sure.

The other thing is that everything I read about the bike indicates that it is often used for an adult pilot/child stoker combination. Which is why I am so concerned about the stoker frame size being only 14.5". However, I must say that my stokers current road bike has a 19" frame and it is clearly much too large for her. So, I'm beginning to suspect that you are correct in saying that a 14'5" size might be a good fit... at least for this style of bike.

[zonatandem]

Wamprunner:
Another, but pricier solution: Co-Motion Periscope model. At about $3,000.
For pilot and stoker it has a 'seatpost within a seatpost' for adjustments (hence the Periscope name).
It would give you a real good fit plus stoker would have room to spare in standover height. Check out the Co-Mo website fro more info.

[TandemGeek]

I too am thinking about getting a tandem for the wife and I. We have the same size disparity. I'm 6'0", she is 5'0". I am currently looking into a Trek T900. It's listed as having 18.5"/14.5" seattubes. Unforutnately, if I want this particular bike, I would be getting it without either of us actually test riding it. Does anyone know if this bike should be able to fit us? We are planning to use it for very casual riding on roads and bike paths doing distances of usually not more then 30 miles or so.

While I don't necessarily advocate this view, at least one major tandem builder suggests that the stoker standover height on road tandems may be inconsequential so long as they can attain a proper riding position once mounted on the bike.

It's mentioned in the last text box on this page:
http://www.santana-tandem.com/en/technik/rahmen.htm


Stoker

Stokers quickly learn the easiest way to climb aboard is to step on a pedal and swing a leg over (while the captain straddles and holds the bike) – just like getting on a horse. Further, because stokers will never have to put a food down (take-offs and landing are the responsibility of the captain), standover becomes inconsequential. This makes tandems very versatile – even cyclists under 1,5m tall will fit on the back. Our sizing chart indicates two ranges – a full range if you'll use a standard seatpost (best value models) and a slightly smaller range for a Tamer ShockPost (all other models).

We know several teams where the captain is significantly taller than their stokers that have successfully used this strategy for many years. I personally think it's suboptimal; however it is a viable solution for many teams.

[zonatandem]

Stoker Kay (at 4' 10 3/4" tall) has disputed personally with Mr. Bill, and his credo, 'stoker sizing is inconsequential'!
Would your stoker wear a size 9 shoe if her actual shoe size is a 5? Sizing is inconsequential??! Yeah, sure!
In case of a panic stop, my stoker prefers to be able to get her feet flat on the ground; and for her, proper sizing is a must.
Mr. Bill is entitled to his opnions, and so is my stoker!

[zonatandem]

Stoker Kay (at 4' 10 3/4" tall) has disputed personally with Mr. Bill, and his credo, 'stoker sizing is inconsequential'!
Would your stoker wear a size 9 shoe if her actual shoe size is a 5? Sizing is inconsequential??! Yeah, sure!
In case of a panic stop, my stoker prefers to be able to get her feet flat on the ground; and for her, proper sizing is a must.
Mr. Bill is entitled to his opnions, and so is my stoker!

[zonatandem]

Stoker Kay (at 4' 10 3/4" tall) has disputed personally with Mr. Bill, and his credo, 'stoker sizing is inconsequential'!
Would your stoker wear a size 9 shoe if her actual shoe size is a 5? Sizing is inconsequential??! Yeah, sure!
In case of a panic stop, my stoker prefers to be able to get her feet flat on the ground; and for her, proper sizing is a must.
Mr. Bill is entitled to his opnions, and so is my stoker!

[TandemGeek]

Would your stoker wear a size 9 shoe if her actual shoe size is a 5? Sizing is inconsequential??! Yeah, sure! In case of a panic stop, my stoker prefers to be able to get her feet flat on the ground; and for her, proper sizing is a must. Mr. Bill is entitled to his opnions, and so is my stoker!

While not intending to defending either side of the argument I'll only point out that just about every tandem ever fitted with a set of kiddie cranks supports the notion that a stoker's ability to straddle the top tube on a tandem is not critical IF the captain can successfully manage the stoker's size and weight. Of course children are different than adults when it comes to issues of trust, fear, and risk management and may or may not be bothered by thoughts regarding "what if".

As another data point, even though Debbie has been able to straddle every stoker top tube on our road tandems, I can't recall a time when she has ever come off the saddle and straddled her top tube. As Mr. Bill suggests, given that we use "the method" to start and stop Debbie pretty much mounts and dismounts the tandem like a horse and never has a reason to come off the front of her saddle. Then again, Debbie wasn't a "seasoned cyclist" when we began riding tandems which could certainly be a factor in her riding habits. The off-road tandems on technical single track are a whole different story as quick dismounts and crashes are unfortunately not as uncommon as I'd like.

Again, while I don't advocate the inconsequential view I can appreciate the merits of the suggestion and can also understand why others would find the approach objectionable. Thus, I merely pass it along as food for thought. As always, it's all about finding the right solution to meet your needs and preferences.

[zonatandem]

While 'the method' has its adherents . . .
Kay's insistence on sufficient standover room has paid off several times.
While pilot is a normally responsible fellow stuff can, and does, happen.
A ribbon of sand across the road from a monsoon rain storm a couple days ago . . . pilot felt there was sufficient power to get through it, but sand was a bit deeper than anticipated. Result, bogged down, did not fall, but a panic stop resulted; stoker did get her feet down flat on the ground.
Another instance, while crossing a new cattle guard, wheel dropped in between section of the guards that was not properly butted together. Result: Lowrider tandem! Front wheel fell through gap, fortunately caught on QR. Pilot rolls over bars due to sudden dead stop. Stoker's feet came down and saved herself and the tandem.
Deep mud on a long detour resulted in mud packed on tires and around canti brake pads. Extremely slow/precarious going. Slid and toppled over. Ingloriously covered in mud, but stoker did not hit top tube, saving her from singing soprano.
Have had a high speed crash plus a couple hits by a car and a truck (drivers were ticketed), and again stoker saved her privates area, by not hitting that too high toptube.
While this may sound like 'the pilot did it all wrong', stuff does happen!
After over 30 years of tandeming, we know what we want for pilot and stoker, and that includes proper standover room for both of us.
You, of course, will make your own decision.

[Wamprunner]

I ended up passing on the used Trek T900. Instead, we went to our LBS and purchased a new Burley Zydeco Mixte-X ( 19 x 15). We tried a Raleigh Companion on for size and it would fit my stoker so long as we replaced her suspension seat post with a non-suspension one and put it all the way down to it's lowest setting.

The Burley on the other hand fit both of us with only minor adjustments to the Stoker handlebar stem height and her seat fore/aft adjustment. There is still plenty of height adjustment left on the stoker seat tube and if she needs the bar closer we can always get one of those telescoping stoker bars.

We took it for a maiden voyage this weekend and both of us absolutely love the initial impressions we got from the ride. The Burley frame in particular is a gem. It felt plenty stiff for climbing and nicely agile for around town. I had the bike shop swap the semi-off road tires that came standard for a set of road slicks and they give a great smooth ride on the bike paths and roads with plenty of grip. Plus, they weigh a bit less and probably offer less rolling resistance for easier spinning.

BTW, I have to agree with the notion that the stoker needs to have adequate stand over clearance. Unbelievably, we needed it the very first time we took took the bike for a cruise. While going around an obsticle on a paved path, I couldn't see that the edge of the path had a ridge hidden by grass that sank into a shallow rut of soft dirt. As I started to rejoin the path, the tires slipped off the edge and suddenly sank enough for both our pedals to strike the paths ridge on the downstroke. This caused me to lose stability for a second. Fortunately, because of the Burleys X frame with tons of clearance for the Stoker, we were both able to quickly get both our feet down which kept us and our new steed from toppling over. I'm not sure I would have been able to do it on my own with a stoker either still seated or leaning on the top tube. As it was, the only damage was to the Captain's ego and some paint scraped off the pedals. Somtimes s*** just happens.