Tandem Cycling - Hanging tandem vertically by front wheel?

Hello,

I'm curious if anyone here stores their tandem in their home or garage hanging it vertically by the front wheel? I found the Delta Leonardo Single Bike Rack online and it is advertised to hold up to 40 lbs. We have a 38lbs Santana road tandem that we would like to store/display in our home in this fashion.

Anyone have experience with this? Is there another product that would be more appropriate for a couple tandem fanatics like us???

I appreciate any and all suggestions!

Justin

38 pounds is less than 40 pounds so the bike rack will be fine.

38 pounds is less than that wheel has to support when you sit on the bike so the wheel will be fine.

Hello, I'm curious if anyone here stores their tandem in their home or garage hanging it vertically by the front wheel? I found the Delta Leonardo Single Bike Rack online and it is advertised to hold up to 40 lbs. We have a 38lbs Santana road tandem that we would like to store/display in our home in this fashion.

No experience with this product but, in general, given that bike and tandem wheels hold their shape and suffer no ill effects under rider weights well in excess of several hundred pounds, dealing with 40 lbs is a nit. Remember a wheel is a network comprised of a wheel, hub, and spokes that distribute all loads applied to the wheel -- pushing, pulling, from the sides or otherwise -- evenly across the entire network.

As for hanging the tandem by the front wheel, I'd recommend the rear for a couple reasons:

1. It puts the most grimey parts of the tandem well away from your clothing, i.e., rear cassette, drive chain, derailleurs, triple cranks.

2. The rear wheel won't flop-over on you like the front wheel will when you lift the wheel into the air.

3. If you're tandem is a scootch too tall for the room you can remove the front wheel before hanging the tandem and attach a foam block under the captain's crank to hold the tandem away from the wall.

I know of two Santanas, a Lite Speed and one mountain Ellsworth that all hang by their front wheels, but using a simple j hook sold in the local hardware store. Never a problem, but before you decide to try the rear wheel up you may want to think how much easier it is the balance the bike on its back wheel and ideally only have to lift it an inch or two rather than trying to deal with a whobbling front wheel on the ground. I have a 1984 Santana Arriva with original wheels and its hung like that for the last 10 years except when being ridden.

... but before you decide to try the rear wheel up you may want to think how much easier it is the balance the bike on its back wheel and ideally only have to lift it an inch or two rather than trying to deal with a whobbling front wheel on the ground.

It would appear that our techniques are completely different. Rather than rotating our tandems into a standing position on their rear wheels I simply grab them by the junction of the captain's top and seat tube with my left hand and the boom tube with my right from the right side of the tandem and lift the whole thing off the ground, then raise the rear wheel high enough to engage the hook for the rear wheel. At no time does the weight of the tandem rest on the front or rear wheel.

However, your suggested approach is certainly one that works as well. Do you strap the front wheel to the downtube to keep it from flopping over or, once you have the tandem rotated onto the rear wheel, do you just grab the front wheel with one hand to steady it while lifting the tandem that extra inch or two with predominantly your other from the seat tube?

However, your suggested approach is certainly one that works as well. Do you strap the front wheel to the downtube to keep it from flopping over or, once you have the tandem rotated onto the rear wheel, do you just grab the front wheel with one hand to steady it while lifting the tandem that extra inch or two with predominantly your other from the seat tube?I do the same as Tom F. I rotate the bike on the rear wheel and then lift the bike up from the captain's seat tube with one hand/arm while guiding the front wheel up over the J-hook with the other by grasping the handlebars.

the one advantage of a rear wheel up configuration is that you don't have to allow the front fork to swing totally straight - it can touch the floor at an angle making the bike a bit shorter if you have clearance (height) problems. This might allow it to go in a shorter but wider storage space (ie. a shop cabinet or with shelf over the structure holding the hook. Clearly there are many ways to deal with the beasts.

That's how I found my Co-motion tandem. Hanging by the rear wheel in the bike shop. No effect on the wheel at all.

I'm using a pulley system to hang a Longbike Jetstream. This is a 10ft. long recumbent tandem that must weigh 55 lbs. I'm using a padded hook around the head tube. Seems to work just fine and allowes me to get the bike higher off the floor.

Gary

Re: hanging tandem by front or back wheel?

Living in the Pac Northwest where you're usually coming in with a wet bike, I recommend hanging by back wheel. This lets the water run past the headset. Hanging by the front wheel, water runs into the headset from the exposed (bottom) end, and pretty soon you've got rusted bearings. I stopped hanging my winter bike by its front wheel when I found I couldn't ride no hands. I'd take my hands off the bars and the bike would start to fall over. The headset still seemed to turn OK, but taking it apart revealed a completely dry and slightly rusted lower race after about 4,000 km (I always use a bottom race with needle roller bearings; top race uses balls to get a finer adjustment). A quick overhaul, and it's no problem riding no hands now. Not sure how you'd tell on a tandem; anybody try riding a tandem no hands?

- Luis

anybody try riding a tandem no hands?


My daughter does all the time. ;)

Up front, though, even riding stokerless, something about it feels really weird, and I haven't had the guts to try to force the issue, so I don't do it. Do others?

-Greg