Tandem Cycling - "Fear" of tandems

Relatively new to Tandems, only started on one in 2001, but 15 years of biking experience. I know I had a learning curve for tandems that took 3 months to become proficient, another 3 months to become efficient and a further 6 months before it became natural.

Today I was on an offroad ride and we stopped for coffee and breakfast at our favourite cafe. Deserted when we got there but suddenly filled up with solo riders. (Got to stop telling people how good this cafe is) One of the solo riders asked who the nutters were with the tandem and I stuck my hand up. A brief discussion ensued in that it is difficult enough to ride a road tandem so for us to take one offroad we must be completely bonkers.

What I would like to know is what is it that turns Solo riders off riding tandem? We actually offered to take one of them out for a quick blast but not one of them took up the offer. Perhaps the alure of their coffee was too strong, but I am certain we saw fear on some of the faces of these solo riders just in case we pressed the offer a bit further.

Any ideas?

Why does it matter?

Do whatever you think is good for you and let them do the same.

We thiink it is more ignorance than fear!

Question: How do you decide who gets to drive? :)
OK, enough trolling. I have never ridden a tandem. I am somewhat interrested because I'm a much stronger bicyclist than my wife. I will admit to some apprehension about it. The ballance must be more difficult. The real barrier is the difficulty in transporting and storing the large framed bicycles.

Hello there in 'UFDA' country!
Have ridden 'in tandem' for 31 years and covered over 200,000 miles as a tandem duo.
Your 'fears' are ungrounded!
Who rides up front? Whoever fits the front best! If you are both about the same size, you can get to trust her up front just like she has to trust you.
Balance? Not an issue. Ride tandem solo for a couple blocks, then put rear rider (called stoker or rear admiral) on back seat. Key to tandeming: communicate!
You are stronger/faster than your wife? With a bit of patience wife will be as good as you! When it gets down to it, women are NOT the weaker sex! They are tough!
My stoker has done 325 miles in 3 days with 20,000 feet of climbing; yeah, she is under 5 foot tall and weigh about 112 lbs!
Transporting? Why, how do you transport your single? Use a rack . . . there are tandem racks for hitches and on top of cars. A standard bike rack can hold a tandem; yes it may stick out a bit past the car's width! Put a couple red rags on the wheels or remove 1 or 2 wheels.
Got a pickup truck? Drop tailgate down and tandem will fit (attach some bungee cords in strategic places).
We haul our tandem INSIDE a Honda Accord station wagon (remove one or both wheels for closing the hatch; o, load tandem in back wheel first, let front wheel stick out past the bumper, put a bit of padding on front wheel and bungee the hatch down!
Storing tandem? Store it next to your single, wherever that is.
What problems/fears? All imaginary!
Try it, you might like it!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

The ballance must be more difficult.


IMO there is more work involved captaining the tandem than a single. The balance on a tandem is better than a single...at least IMO. I've been riding both bikes in my sig for the same amount of time and have nearly the same mileage on both, that said, I declare myself the perfect lab rat to make such conclusions.
:D

What I would like to know is what is it that turns Solo riders off riding tandem? Any ideas?

There are as many reasons to be turned-off by tandems as there are to be turned-on...

Quality time without your partner may be as important as quality time with them...
Cycling can be a very personal and private thing to may riders...
Not everyone has someone they can or want to ride with...
Tandems can be a real pain in the arse to deal with... as can captains or stokers...
Not everyone sees tandems as a "cool" thing...
And so, and so forth...

Here's a thought; next time you encounter some solo riders who seem cool to tandems, ask them what it is about tandems that turns them off.

I will admit to some apprehension about it.

Tandems are a lot like dating and marriage...

The first date is always the hardest and filled with apprehension. After all things could go poorly and that can make things awkward and uncomfortable, particularly if you really like the person.

Then again, things could go well and before you know it you find that your new relationship has consumed all your free time, disposable income, and altered many other aspects of your life: for better or worse.

For a lot of teams, things work out for better... but not all. Of course, like everything in life, you always find a way to adapt to important changes and figuring out how to haul around and store a tandem is hardly an insurmountable problem.

So, rather than blathering on about all of this stuff let me suggest that a search of the archives here at BikeForums will yield volumes of data on each of your questions. Just enter the words: 'tandem transport' or 'tandem storage' or 'tandem method' and you'll find all kinds of interesting discussions.

Most people don't want to give up control. I let my wife captain once when we broke the timing chain. She's quite content to be copilot since then.

to me, Bikes are tools. you pick the best tool for the job. The tandem is the best bike for riding with my wife, particularly at those times when our fitness is different. However, for me, its no the best tool for most hard training rides,group rides or just riding fast . It's not as comfortable, and not as manueverable as a single bike, and harder to ride smoothly in a paceline. When my wife has been training and is in pretty good shape, and can at least hang in my draft, we tend to prefer to ride seperate bikes. If she hasn't been riding much the tandem is a good tool for us to ride together, but not necessarily our first choice.

Relatively new to Tandems, only started on one in 2001, but 15 years of biking experience. I know I had a learning curve for tandems that took 3 months to become proficient, another 3 months to become efficient and a further 6 months before it became natural.

Today I was on an offroad ride and we stopped for coffee and breakfast at our favourite cafe. Deserted when we got there but suddenly filled up with solo riders. (Got to stop telling people how good this cafe is) One of the solo riders asked who the nutters were with the tandem and I stuck my hand up. A brief discussion ensued in that it is difficult enough to ride a road tandem so for us to take one offroad we must be completely bonkers.

What I would like to know is what is it that turns Solo riders off riding tandem? We actually offered to take one of them out for a quick blast but not one of them took up the offer. Perhaps the alure of their coffee was too strong, but I am certain we saw fear on some of the faces of these solo riders just in case we pressed the offer a bit further.

Any ideas?
I guess it's mainly a case of "what I don't know, I don't trust", as we Dutch tend to say. Your story is very familiar to us. We started tandem riding in 1990 (with a much shorter learning curve, for what it's worth). From 1994, when we bought our C'dale MT3000, the off-road tandeming bit started. Until this very day, people will state "I've never seen anything like that!" and "You must be a bit mad to do this" (or words to that effect). The latter words are more than once directed towards my spouse/stoker :p To which she will reply ever so sweetly "Well, you must have a trustworthy captain, that's for sure" :D

So does this reply shed any light on why solo riders tend to 'fear' off-road tandems? Well not exactly but perhaps it assures you, you're not alone out there .....

In my experience, those who have opposed tandeming benefit from the single experience and have no use for a tandem. I ride with a number of guys on Wednesday mornings. I honestly don't know why there are no women on this weekly ride. Anyway, some of the men are single with no kids, and the others are married and have grown children, and their spouses are not cyclists. As far as I know I am the only in our group capable of having a regular stoker (my 4 year old daughter).

As I ride a triplet, I have offered to have somebody stoke for me on my wife's empty seat. So far, no has taken me up on it. I think that they value their independence during their time. They don't seem to have any desire to build a stronger relationship with my daughter and I. Maybe I will eventually find someone to stoke or pilot during these rides. If not, that's OK, the little one and I have a great time together.

S

I will admit to some apprehension about it. The balance must be more difficult.

There is a learning curve, but it's a quick one. I first rode the tandem by myself to get used to it, then did a few short rides. I found the driving challenging and my arms were aching after a 2-3 km ride only (in city traffic, so that was a bit more challenging)! But a few of these short rides were enough to fully adjust both cockpits and to get the feeling of the tandem. The next thing was an 80 km ride that went without a hitch.

Unless you have a stoker that looks on both sides of you, you will solve the balance issue in less than 1-2 km. I haven't done too much offroad with the tandem yet and wouldn't do that on the first days. Nor would I ride killer hills on the first days. As they say, skills come with practice.




The real barrier is the difficulty in transporting and storing the large framed bicycles.

The solution, I think, is to ride to and from home. Even in the city, there are nice streets and wonderful vistas.

djembob02,

I can understand why most would not want to stoke. They would truly feel like interlopers on your bike. They would not only be giving up being captain of their ride but they also would feel very awkward if something came, e.g. child doing something they don't like, riding to your style vice theirs, etc.

I have an offer out to a friend to stoke with me on an upcoming ride this May. I don't know if he will accept. I am hoping that he will try the tandem out with me. Since we are similarly sized I will offer halfsies on the captain position. If he does not want to, I will understand.

I don't understand their reactions. Everyone including my mum who has never got the knack of balancing a single bike, my jogging-mad neighbour, and the local club guys wanted to have a go.

With a pair of reasonably experienced cyclists, I don't think the tandem is much more difficult than a single. On our first ride we were squeezing through gaps in traffic, second ride going up steep hills (no choice where we live) and by our fifth ride were mixing with the club and got up a 20% hill. IMO the learning curve for people who can already ride reasonably well is more about learning to efficiently work together than the mechanics of leaning, turning etc. I'm keen to try it with some of my still-racing buddies to get that rocket-ship feeling of a steady 25-30mph on the flat again.

[FONT=Arial]
I don't understand their reactions. Everyone including my mum who has never got the knack of balancing a single bike, my jogging-mad neighbour, and the local club guys wanted to have a go.

With a pair of reasonably experienced cyclists, I don't think the tandem is much more difficult than a single. On our first ride we were squeezing through gaps in traffic, second ride going up steep hills (no choice where we live) and by our fifth ride were mixing with the club and got up a 20% hill. IMO the learning curve for people who can already ride reasonably well is more about learning to efficiently work together than the mechanics of leaning, turning etc. I'm keen to try it with some of my still-racing buddies to get that rocket-ship feeling of a steady 25-30mph on the flat again.

The problem I found, was to get a pair of riders that worked on a tandem. When I found THE Co-rider, it was great, and we could start learning. I mainly ride offroad, and I hate to say it but that is a challenge you do not want on your first ride together, even if you are both mountain bikers on solo's. I was on my 4th co-rider before it worked, and that is not a choice for married couples. Then again- I have not told of the 5 or 6 solo riders that have given the Tandem a try, for it to be "Never Again"

Incidentally, on our ride tonight, Offroad of course, We took in a section of road- dead straight and almost flat but very slightly uphill. Average for the 2 miles on it, including the 2 roundabouts, was 31mph. That is on knobblies- Offroad gearing and Tandem, but with a few miles under our wheels to have got warm. No effort involved, except for the incentive that as soon as we get away from these cars, we can get off onto the mud. Speed and expertise comes with the team working, and not necessarily with racing experience. Mind You, I think that my Pilot could do with a little bit of race experience and fitness from his stoker when we hit those hills.

Nice - 30mph on the flat with knobblies up a hill is v.v. fast. Mopeds should be on the look for you coming past to see whether they can get on your wheel, rather than the other way round!

Similar thing happened to us - We turned off a side road onto a hill, and immediately got passed by a fit-looking junior / u23 guy in full race gear in the big ring. He was obviously trying, so we didn't try to keep up. On the long, draggy downhill, we passed him at a nice 'too fast to get on the wheel' speed then held him off for the next 3 miles on the flat. The great thing about tandem riding is that if I even attempted to pull a stunt like that on a ride with my wife on single bikes I'd be eating dinner with my bike in the garage.

, so we didn't try to keep up. On the long, draggy downhill, we passed him at a nice 'too fast to get on the wheel' speed then held him off for the next 3 miles on the flat.

It can be almost funny on a tandem -- we once road through a series of smaller climbs and descents, a bit taller than what you could call "rollers". A guy on a single was passing us fairly smartly on the climbs, and we would zip past him on the descents. He was pedaling on the descents, and we were just coasting!

-Greg

Just a interesting observation - we have number of single riders that have been members of our tandem club for a number of years. For what every reason they can not get it together as a team, but they enjoy the company of riding with us. We also have converted a number of unattached male and female singles to married tandem couples.

Personally, I think the jibes from singles at times has a little bit of a envy sting to it.
By the way I have many more singles ask very good questions about tandem riding and how they might get into it and I keep an extra tandem bike around just so they can see what it's like.

[QUOTE=mrfish]Nice - 30mph on the flat with knobblies up a hill is v.v. fast. Mopeds should be on the look for you coming past to see whether they can get on your wheel, rather than the other way round!

QUOTE]

Problem is that once you overtake a moped, you have to stay in front of him. When you hit the uphill, or even run out of a bit of steam- You can hear them coming, and there is no way you want to be overtaken by him after all the effort you put in to pass him. Can get very tiring if he is going the same way as you for too long.

I think its a control freak thing. I reamber riding stoker with a frend piolting. First time he had been on a tandam and took off like a scollded cat. Made me realise how much trust you need riding stoker. Getting off a solo is a big step. The poor dear were probibley frighten by a real bike.

Either that or a daredevil pilot. For example, if I were stoking with a pilot that always ride in the door zone, I would be fearful.

Have had several occasions to ride as stoker and as long as it is with a fairly seasoned captain, it is not a problem and really enjoy giving up decision making!
However, a real racer wanted to try out tandem years ago and attempted to explain to him a bit about riding as a duo. His reply: "I'm a racer, I know how to ride". OK fella! I got on as stoker and he had trouble keeping tandem upright . . . we were slaloming all over the road! When he finally stopped he said "I never want to ride tandem again" on which I replied " . . . and you are a racer?!"
Suggest every captain spends a bit of time as a stoker to appreciate what a riding partner has to put up with on a 2-seater!

Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

We've got 27" wide bars, and I've got bar ends with grips on mine. Power steering!

Really simple- they are jealous.

Kinda like the people who spend big bucks on cars, motorcycles, whatever, and just can't hack it when somebody else is getting the attention they thought they bought...

Enjoy it. Or better yet, get them to try riding yours.. you might make a convert...