Tandem Cycling - Cannondale road tandem aggresive or relaxed?

Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.



PDA
mostatebears
03-23-07, 02:27 PM
Hi,

My wife and I are getting ready to make the jump into tandem's.

One problem is that my wife has never rode a road bike and so I am wondering what the ride is like on the cannondale.

Is the reach and seat to handlebar height similar to a racing road bike or are the riders more upright like a touring or hybrid bike?

My LBS's are pretty little and they probably are not going to want to order 2 or 3 tandems for us to try.

Any help would be appreciated. thanks,

dubbelop
03-23-07, 04:18 PM
In my view, the Cannondale rides 'sporty' by which I mean neither super-relaxed nor very nervous. The reach and seat to handlebar height is quite similar to road racing bikes, but there are several ways to overcome this if you feel the need. Especially for the stoker position it's quite easy to get the handlebar closer to the stoker and/or higher up. For the captain I can recommend a stem riser: a rather simple contraption that jacks up the handlebar some 2 or 3 inches. I have one on our Cannondale Road Tandem (which is quite "long and low" up front) and this serves us fine.