Tandem Cycling - Spring Fever - Show your Tandem

I know I’ve posted pics before, but with Spring trying to come, I’m really getting anxious to ride. I’ve been ramping up on my single, but my wife has yet to get out. So hopefully if the weather continues to warm, and we get more daylight she can get a few miles in as well. Last year we would often pull our son in the trailer on Tuesdays (day off), so hopefully we will get back in that mode.

As for the Trek I continue to tinker. It is basically new as we bought it late last year, so very few miles. I’ve added brake boosters, moose rack for the Burley Piccolo. More recently I added a Shimano Flight Deck, used the second mount for my Garmin Edge, and lastly a shaved drum brake.

So anyone else racking up some miles or like me waiting for Spring?

John

So anyone else racking up some miles or like me waiting for Spring?

"Yes" to the racking up, "No" to the waiting... :) Sorry... :o

Need to check the odometer for the latest, but the tandem has seen over 600 miles so far in 2006, which includes one organized century ride. I hope to better 2005's mileage of almost exactly 3,000 miles. On track so far!

We've had a good week or two with highs mostly in the sixties, but it looks like rain is coming today, and it will probably be a pretty wet week. Need to put the fenders back on today for Monday's commute. Probably about another ten weeks, give or take, until I can hang up the fenders in the garage where they'll sit until September.

-Greg

O.K. When you gonna paint the rack red? Seriously though, your new toy sure looks good and it looks warm enough out there for a ride to me. I don't see any snow on the driveway.

Hope you have a great season with your new baby and rack up all sorts of (s)miles.

My stokette and I have put about 600 miles on our triplet this winter. We get out when its cold, but our trips are pretty short. Even with 4-5 layers, my skinny 4 year old has a hard time staying warm. Not to mention that 4 layers are not comfortable. My wife got on last week in the mid 50 degree weather. This next week there will be three days in the 70's! Warmer weather=longer rides and rides with all 3 of us. We will be doing some self-supported touring, weekly rides, our usual coffee shop/playground rides...all building up to the Bike Across Kansas early this summer.

Yesterday, I met the worst uphill yet on the way to a different playground. We were going 4.5 mph for about 1.5 miles. On the way down, we got to 41 mph, very straight, good pavement.

By the way, your bike looks great. I like the bar-end shifters. I have had great success with mine so far. Was tempted to go STI, but now I really like the bar-end shifters, so easy to tell what gear I'm in. Good luck in the spring to come. Should be a great time.

Wow, that is some great mileage - awesome! I can only hope. We enjoy riding together, but schedules are more favorable to mostly riding alone (2 small children), although that triple with a tag-a-long could get the job done.

The bar end shifter is for the drum brake, it's got regular STI brifters.

Red, I hadn't thought of that, but hey why not, at least you can look fast, even if your as slow as us.

Thanks for the motivation, maybe I can get her in the saddle soon. She has gotten back on the trainer in the basement, so the bike(s) are hopefully close behind.

John

Sorry r900, I don't have a picture of our tandem, but my Mom, sister and neice and I have been on the trainer since middle Jan. and we're all taking two tandems down to south of orlando this coming friday for a week long cycling camp that we do every year!...So the miles will be coming!....We all can't wait for rally and cycling season to start in earnest, which isn't much more than a month away!!YYYEEEAAAAHHH!!:)

Benjamin

My stokette and I have put about 600 miles on our triplet this winter. We get out when its cold, but our trips are pretty short. Even with 4-5 layers, my skinny 4 year old has a hard time staying warm. Not to mention that 4 layers are not comfortable. My wife got on last week in the mid 50 degree weather. This next week there will be three days in the 70's! Warmer weather=longer rides and rides with all 3 of us. We will be doing some self-supported touring, weekly rides, our usual coffee shop/playground rides...all building up to the Bike Across Kansas early this summer.

Yesterday, I met the worst uphill yet on the way to a different playground. We were going 4.5 mph for about 1.5 miles. On the way down, we got to 41 mph, very straight, good pavement.

By the way, your bike looks great. I like the bar-end shifters. I have had great success with mine so far. Was tempted to go STI, but now I really like the bar-end shifters, so easy to tell what gear I'm in. Good luck in the spring to come. Should be a great time.

And I thought our tandem was heavy. We only ride offroad-with the occasional foray onto tarmac for Century rides for training, so ours is with a bit of Sturdiness built into it. Dale MT2000 with Hope M4 brakes, Boxer forks and Hope bigun hubs with mavic EX729 downhill rims. May be heavy but downhills are great. Beat you on slow speed up hills as we just asbout crawl up some- but you have an excuse- I don't. Downhill we have managed 52.8 on slicks on the road, but 53.8 offroad on knobblies. (The pilot was a Kami-kazi in his former life)

Kept riding throughout the winter, but now into night riding. Must remember to change the candles on our lights for next week as a 50 miler at night is planned-Offroad of course. Attachments are of the Tandem of a few years ago and the only change since then is a thudbuster for the stoker (ME) and the other shows the type of trail we ride.

R900. Ok, hopefully this is not a dumb question. I see you have a single bar end shifter on what would traditionally be the RD side. I also see both STI brifters have shifter cable housings coming out which would leads me to confusion. A third derailure? And, since you have only one bar end shifter what was the thinking there? Just interested as I am looking to switch to bar end shifters in the near future.

Thanks!

I see you have a single bar end shifter on what would traditionally be the RD side. I also see both STI brifters have shifter cable housings coming out which would leads me to confusion. A third derailure?

Bar-end shifter is used to operate the rear auxiliary Arai drum/drag brake...

First of all: we like any color as long as it's RED! Looks like some nice upgrading, including the right barcon for the 3rd brake. A red rack? A can of spray paint can change that! A non-hairy (shaved!) drum brake and brake boosters + red H2O holders!
With the 'puter and Garmin, you'd better not ever get lost on a tandem toot!
This will be our 3rd spring on our Zona tandem. So far this year logged 647 on the tandem and 191 on the 'mono-bike'.
Spring arrives in Tucson on Jan. 1st . . . 1/3-inch of rain since October + our usual spring 'breezes'; temps in A.M. from 30s to 40s; P.M. 60s to 70s and up to only 83 today. Wanna be here in the summer?
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

R900, I guess you've been out on the tandem and burley piccolo - correct? We just bought a used tandem last week. I can't believe I let my husband talk me into it. But it was a 57/47 (not easy to find) on Craig's list (ie. local) for a good price. We are VERY different riders. He's tall lean and fast and I am NONE of those things. I suspect we'll just hit some rail to trails at first. How stable will our son be on the back (he's 4 1/2)? He's been on trail-a-bikes for almost a year but the piccolo will be new to him. It just seems so long and heavy - I'm nervous.....

Well alright. A chance to see if I can post a picture here. Sorry if it comes out wrong.
This was taken on January 8 just before heading out on a metric century. Only 272 miles on the tandem this year but my stoker is over 1000 already and I should hit that mark on Tuesday. Not bad for riding in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The "Silver Bullet" has been off the road for a few weeks as we gave it a 20,000 mile overhaul.

R900, I guess you've been out on the tandem and burley piccolo - correct? We just bought a used tandem last week. I can't believe I let my husband talk me into it. But it was a 57/47 (not easy to find) on Craig's list (ie. local) for a good price. We are VERY different riders. He's tall lean and fast and I am NONE of those things. I suspect we'll just hit some rail to trails at first. How stable will our son be on the back (he's 4 1/2)? He's been on trail-a-bikes for almost a year but the piccolo will be new to him. It just seems so long and heavy - I'm nervous.....

The Piccolo pulls very nice. We have a child stoker kit on our Fuji tandem and can pull the Piccolo, works great. We tried an Adams tandem (2 seats) tag-a-long, and it was so long I didn't like how much the bike would shift as the kids moved around, so we sold it in favor of a child stoker kit and a Piccolo. The Burley system is just a lot better then the Adams. I think your son will do great on the Piccolo.

John

First of all: we like any color as long as it's RED! Looks like some nice upgrading, including the right barcon for the 3rd brake. A red rack? A can of spray paint can change that! A non-hairy (shaved!) drum brake and brake boosters + red H2O holders!
With the 'puter and Garmin, you'd better not ever get lost on a tandem toot!
This will be our 3rd spring on our Zona tandem. So far this year logged 647 on the tandem and 191 on the 'mono-bike'.
Spring arrives in Tucson on Jan. 1st . . . 1/3-inch of rain since October + our usual spring 'breezes'; temps in A.M. from 30s to 40s; P.M. 60s to 70s and up to only 83 today. Wanna be here in the summer?
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Wow, I've very jealous of all the mileage everyone is able to rack up. We will still have a lot more single bike miles then tandem, as we don't tour As the kids get older, I hope we can ride together more and more.

As for red, gotta love a red bike. My Cannondale is red and I just switched to some Pro Race Red tires, it also has a red seat, red/black bar tape, and red cages. I think I'll keep the black tape and seats on the Trek, but I do like the sound of a red rack.

John

How stable will our son be on the back (he's 4 1/2)? He's been on trail-a-bikes for almost a year but the piccolo will be new to him. It just seems so long and heavy - I'm nervous.....

The Piccolo is fantastic behind a single bike. On a tandem, it's even better.

If you're worry about the tail wagging the dog, a tandem is a much bigger dog, and the Piccolo seems to have less influence on the big rig than it does on a single (where it is already fabulous).

Good luck!
-Greg

OK, so I have to ask...does anyone here live where there REALLY IS a WINTER?? All the pictures have NO SNOW in them. Sorry, but that doesn't count as "winter"! :D

We won't be riding until probably the end of April/beginning of May. Just too much snow here.

Cuz we have "real" winters! ;)

OK, so I have to ask...does anyone here live where there REALLY IS a WINTER?? All the pictures have NO SNOW in them. Sorry, but that doesn't count as "winter"! :D

We won't be riding until probably the end of April/beginning of May. Just too much snow here.

Cuz we have "real" winters! ;)

You can have your "real winters". :p My wife is from the Traverse City area and I am from the Lansing area. I hate snow. We now live in Louisville, KY. My wife wants to move back to the frozen north but I refuse. :fight: I have logged about 400 miles outside since Jan 1 but only because I work all day M-F and get limited on ride time until daylight savings time kicks in. If we move, I'm headed further South.

And Tandem-related item: We are waiting on a 2006 C'Dale road tandem. Should be here in about a week. As soon as it gets here we should be able to start putting miles on it. We did ride 2 hours on new-years day on a borrowed tandem. I love good weather.

Duane

OK, so I have to ask...does anyone here live where there REALLY IS a WINTER??

This is about as "winter" as we can manage around here -- this taken last night after our commute home in the steady rain:



Here's the bike outfitted for longer weekend rides -- fenders and rack off, components swapped for adult stoker. Still winter, though. :D



-Greg

Winter is one of four seasons; does not mean you have to have snow.
Experienced 40 below zero during Korean War . . . and did not have snow. BBBRrrrr!
Prefer living in the southwest where we sometimes see snow on top of the 9,000 ft mountains, but don't have to drive/live in it. Been there, done that!
Now we'll sneak out for a tandem ride!

OK, so I have to ask...does anyone here live where there REALLY IS a WINTER?? All the pictures have NO SNOW in them. Sorry, but that doesn't count as "winter"! :D

We won't be riding until probably the end of April/beginning of May. Just too much snow here.

Cuz we have "real" winters! ;)

I thought Winter was on the calender, not the map.

Here's a pic from 2/5 around Deltona, just north of Orlando. It was pretty cold for us that day, about 47F at the start.

Michele's always got at least one more layer on than I do. Go figure, she grew up in Minneapolis, I grew up in Miami.

We'll bolt on the "trunk" this time of year so we can stow the windbreakers if it's warm enough to shed them after the rest stop. Hopefully we'll go back to the smaller seat pack in a couple of weeks. That's the only seasonable adjustment that we have to make.

We feel sorry for you poor folks who live up north and miss out on lots of great riding this time of year, but not enough to invite you to stay at our house for 4 months.

OK, so I have to ask...does anyone here live where there REALLY IS a WINTER?

I do, and I do ride the single as well as the tandem with trailercycle in winter. The kids and I did a couple of leasure rides (Mt. Royal, as well as a tour of Christmas decorations) at the beginning of Winter, but since then, it has been only utility rides (single or triple) as well as a few short rides by myself. It's either cold, wet or muggy, so the children prefer other activities.

Apart from being both the cyclist and photographer in the house, winter cycling has another photographic challenge: it's often dark.

Yes, life in the Mid-West... The Sunbelt holds great appeal for a cyclist. This is last winter, about 24" of snow, you can see the cars, drifting was really bad, I had about 4' on the garage roof and the lower house roof. It was a long time before we were able to ride again. This year we had heavy snow and very cold temps for December, but after the first of the year, not really any snow to speak of, and above average temps.

John

Ok, I hope this works...I'm new at adding pics. They're not great pics, but I don't have any ready nicely prepped for online at the moment.


Kermit - it ain't easy being green...


Flooded road. This was a ride with our group. The other riders talked us into going back through again, just to get the pic. :)

We feel sorry for you poor folks who live up north and miss out on lots of great riding this time of year, but not enough to invite you to stay at our house for 4 months.



Don't feel sorry for us...we love it here. Change in seasons, and the x-country skiing, snowshoeing, and other winter sports keep us in great shape during the off season!

Not to mention, the Coast Guard tells me where to live, I don't really have any say in the matter...! :o

This is our new Co-Motion Speedster, that arrived January 6th. We have enjoyed several No-Cal rides,
the longest one being 60 miles. We've had a couple spring-like days so far (68F), not typical for February.

We are a new team. Our ride around the Sutter Buttes was wonderful. Riding around town can be intimidating. Large intersections can be scary. We try to communicate well, but things can happen
so fast around city intersections. Then there's the traffic noise too..

When it snows, we ski. When it's sunny we ride. So far, February here has been a
little of both. (Hope the picture turns out)

We got rained on pretty hard on our ride last weekend ... but here's a photo from a day with a bit more sun!

[QUOTE]So anyone else racking up some miles or like me waiting for Spring?

My wife and I just got back to the rainy northwest after riding our Speedster CP in Tucson with Lon Haldeman's PAC Tour Tandem Winter Training Camp. It was 500 miles in 6 days of really great riding and the best part was that we got to dry out a bit and actually, sort of get a tan. Sure, only my calves and and face are tan but none the less it's a tan.

So how were things in 'downtown' Gila Bend?
Just think, we have to put up with that kind of weather! S'no foolin'!

Wife and daughter, enjoying the California sun during a ride through the Sacramento Delta area:


Another pic, same ride:


One more, cruising through Pleasanton to Livermore:

Reviving an old thread here.......

This is my first attempt at posting pics, so it may not go so well.

We finally got our 2006 Cannondale Road Tandem 2 weeks ago. It has exactly 0 miles on it due to a combination of weather, racing (me) and tennis (my wife). Hopefully we'll be able to get it out soon. We're a new tandem team so I have been doing a lot of reading on this forum to learn.....thanks to everyone who has taken the time to share their wisdom & experiences.

[/URL]

I had to include this one - two of my favorite things - my bikes & my dogs

[URL=http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tandem57pj.jpg] (http://img124.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tandem22ua.jpg)

Duane

This is our new Co-Motion Speedster, that arrived January 6th. We have enjoyed several No-Cal rides,
the longest one being 60 miles. We've had a couple spring-like days so far (68F), not typical for February.

We are a new team. Our ride around the Sutter Buttes was wonderful. Riding around town can be intimidating. Large intersections can be scary. We try to communicate well, but things can happen
so fast around city intersections. Then there's the traffic noise too..

When it snows, we ski. When it's sunny we ride. So far, February here has been a
little of both. (Hope the picture turns out)


Chainedtogether, we live in Yuba City! The Sutter Buttes are in our backyard. We are riding the Bike Around the Buttes and the Chico Wildflower this year. Our longest ride so far has been 50 miles. Once this rain stops we are hoping to get out more. It is suppose to be sunny this weekend. We should get togther and ride sometime. It is safer to ride out here. There are a lot of country roads with little or no traffic. Roseville can be busy. Our daughter lives in Rocklin and parents live in Sun City in Lincoln. Talk about a lot of traffic!!!

I would love to post a photo of our tandem, but I am not sure how to post.

I would love to post a photo of our tandem, but I am not sure how to post.

I would like to know how to post photos also, particularly "thumbnail" style since I don't have any photos posted on the web.

Rick

Got a new Co-Motion (Cappuccion in Cinnamon Pearl) on order and will post pics when we get it (just a few more weeks!!)

Hi, I you can use the manage attachments in the options area to upload images from your computer. Just click on the button and browse for the image you want to upload. I think BF has a 100k size limit.

John

Thanks R900,

I think I tried to upload too big of a file last time. Here's another attempt at the picture I posted earlier in this thread.

Wow, that is a nice looking tandem. Glad to help on the pic.

John

Here is a photo our 2004 Cannondale (Road). We have added a flatbar and platform pedals for my comfort and husband's.

Looks like the rain has finally stopped here for a few days so we can get ol blue out and give her a ride this weekend.

Picking up new 2006 Specialized Sirrus Comp this afternoon. I cannot wait..... :D

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Well, it has been a couple of months since I asked whether I should go drive 400 miles one way to pick up a free tandem offer. You guys have been very helpful and patient. For that I thank you. Stoker and captian took their first around the neighborhood ride yesterday. So far so good. She liked it. I am not sure yet. It's like driving a car vs a semi on the highway!

New cables from NB (my LBS did not stock and would have to order) some shimano STI 5 spd barcons from eBay. And bonus, some Campy Ergo brakes which some day will be paired (I hope) a ShiftMate (http://jtekengineering.com/shiftmate.htm) but based on TGeek's KISS advice I just went with barcons to start. I hoped I could make 5 spd work in friction mode for 6 or maybe even 7. WRONG! So I just dialed in the middle 5 and that will do.

Now I just need to find an experienced tandem team to learn the finer details. Our first problem was how to tell the stoker I am about to coast and which side up if we are banking. All those instinctive things we do on singles but now I have to remember to tell her. Wierd! She is eager to learn and asked if there is a book to read for begining teams. I have surfed this board and there are a lot of tidbits but no condensed post for newbie teams. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

...Our first problem was how to tell the stoker I am about to coast and which side up if we are banking. All those instinctive things we do on singles but now I have to remember to tell her. Wierd!...no condensed post for newbie teams. Any suggestions?



We are realtively new under 2 years on tandem. What works for us so far is, "Coasting, 2,1." I count her down to the coast. For peddles I say "Left up, Right up, or 50-50.

As far as reading, I started here http://sheldonbrown.com/tandem.html
and then http://www.thetandemlink.com/LearningCenter.html

Good luck
Jack

Here she is.... Can't wait to get back on the road.

Duane, sweet ride... My next project is going to be upgrading to discs. How do you like the Avids? Is there any travel agents or anything needed to make them work with the STI levers?

Bolton2160

... Now I just need to find an experienced tandem team to learn the finer details. Our first problem was how to tell the stoker I am about to coast and which side up if we are banking. All those instinctive things we do on singles but now I have to remember to tell her. Wierd! She is eager to learn and asked if there is a book to read for begining teams. I have surfed this board and there are a lot of tidbits but no condensed post for newbie teams. Any suggestions?


As a starter, I would suggest you read the Santana Tech Tips (http://gtgtandems.com/techtips.html), and especially pages around "the proper method".

As for telling my stoker what to do, I don't. I learned to do the following:

– Pedal as evenly as possible and don't coast unless there is a good reason to do so.

– Start coasting slowly; ditto when you start pedalling. IOW, instead of starting to pedal abruptly after coasting down a steep hill, start to pedal slowly and get to full speed within 1-2 pedal revolutions.

– Going through tight turns: I'm cautious by nature, so I slow down even more.

– Stopping took 2-3 rides to clear, but we finally found a way that works.

Here she is.... Can't wait to get back on the road.

Awesome paint, but what's up with the stoker seat - looks painful?

John

Awesome paint, but what's up with the stoker seat - looks painful?

John

Thanks, I tore her down about two years ago and had it powdercoated. The seat is one of those "woman specific" seats that has a hole cut out for certain parts. I asked my wife if she wants the nose down but she says that it feels comfortable to her. We've done a couple of centuries with it like that and now complaints.

Bolton2160

Duane, sweet ride... My next project is going to be upgrading to discs. How do you like the Avids? Is there any travel agents or anything needed to make them work with the STI levers?

Bolton2160

No travel agent required, they're the Avid BB7 road-specific model with 203mm rotors.

So far I like them, but we only have 1 ride on them. It's my first attempt at discs as I still run v-brakes on my MTB. They do feel more solid than the Avid Shorty's on the Tandem we borrowed and I found that I didn't notice them, which is a good thing in my mind.

I know quite a few guys that run the regular Avid BB7 mechanicals on their MTB's and all say good things about them. If I hadn't just purchased new v-brake-only wheels for my MTB I would be highly inclined to try the regular ones there as well.

Duane

My wife and I enjoy year round cycling here in southwest Florida and have been able to do a little over 2000 miles so far this year. Our latest outing was on March 18th when we did a ride around the perimeter of Lake Okeechobee - a distance of 114 miles. Fellow tandem riders Wayne and Melanie joined us. In case your interested you can read about it here: http://www.bikephotos.150m.com/BigO/lake_okeechobee_journal.htm

Here is a picture of my stoker with our '98 Cannondale.

Thanks, I tore her down about two years ago and had it powdercoated.

Bolton2160


Bolton2160,

Awesome paint job! Where did you have it done. We'd like to have our Cannondale powdercoated, but haven't been able to find a painter we feel confident with. We know aluminum frames require special care when stripping and preparing to paint. Don't feel good having the local guy painting in his garage do the work. Thanks.

Gary

Bolton2160,

Awesome paint job! Where did you have it done. We'd like to have our Cannondale powdercoated, but haven't been able to find a painter we feel confident with. We know aluminum frames require special care when stripping and preparing to paint. Don't feel good having the local guy painting in his garage do the work. Thanks.

Gary

Thanks, it was quite a long process.. After I stripped all the components off, I had to strip off all of the factory paint. It was a bear, I tried strippers, wire brushes, brillo pads, it took me about a week of work to get it all off. I was a little leary about having it sandblasted because of the aluminum frame. The powdercoater was located in Lake Havasu, AZ and was refered to me by the LBS in Bull Head City, AZ. Sorry but I don't recall the name of the powdercoater. Your LBS should be able to give you some good local painters/powdercoaters.

Here are some pics of our Mocha on which we are now up to 6,300kms in 9 months.

Vers France


Vence, Pains and Patisseries


Gourdon, France

Cheers

Geoff

Bolton2160,

Awesome paint job! Where did you have it done. We'd like to have our Cannondale powdercoated, but haven't been able to find a painter we feel confident with. We know aluminum frames require special care when stripping and preparing to paint. Don't feel good having the local guy painting in his garage do the work. Thanks.

Gary

If you are looking for a good painter, check out Joe Bell. He is one of the best. http://www.campyonly.com/joebell.html