Tandem Cycling - Big Gears

I'm excited about becoming a member. My wife and I are keen tandem riders, have been doing so for about 17 years. I'd like to know who pushes the biggest gear out there? What size cahinring, wheel size and cog size? Cheeers

Our top gear is 54x11, with 700c wheels. It's our 'downhill with a tailwind' gear. We rarely use it, but it's nice to have when the situation is right.

I don't quite understand the need for hugely big gears.

a) there are very few times you need such a big gear, at least where I live
b) when you do reach max speed, you rarely stay at that speed for long
c) you end up compromising your ordinary flat ratios if you bolt on a max speed downhill chainring
d) gear changing to a middle ring of ordinary size from say a 55 tooth ring isn't great

All this means that I think it's best to have a reasonably high gear such that you can occasionally spin it out by pedalling faster. Just to illustrate, on my single bike I managed 52mph on 52x12 by pedalling down a very steep hill in Yorkshire at about 150rpm. If you have say 53x11 the same rpm gives 63mph, which I think is quite enough. At that speed getting lower on the bike will have more impact than pedalling anyway, so it's all a wash.

The only reason for big chainrings is that if you want to pedal at say 80rpm and do time trials at 25-30mph. Then the closer ratios and bigger speed from a 55 tooth ring may be an advantage, e.g. for the Yates brothers who have a very big chain ring.

There is no "need" for big gears. Only a want. And it does make for bigger steps in between.

However, it's a real blast to overtake some singles descending a canyon, pull alongside, drop from the 12t to the 11t with a nice "clunk" and leave them gasping trying to hold on.

We run a 54/11 top gear as well.

One selects gearing to match the objective and terrain. Many teams have several sets of wheels with different gearing and more than one tandem. So there is not a one size fits all or is any particular gearing configuration superior to another.:)

typically when customers come in..and say they want a bigger gear.. I tell them to learn to spin. Yet with that said... our new tandem is set up with 55-42 chain rings and an 11-28 cassette.

we like seeing the snot hang out of the single roadies noses : )

48/36/24 front and 11/34 rear. 48/11 at cadence of 100 is 30mph and as to the lower gears- Our hills and my legs demand them.

Whatever your legs/terrain dictate!

Hi all, thanks for the replies. I agree with you all, there is often no need for the BIG gears, but don't you just love pushing them occasionally? My knees and my orthopedic surgeon don't agree though!!!!!!!!!! I have just purchased a 60t chainring, to go with the 11t sprocket and 26inch wheels on our tandem, that makes 141 I believe......I'll be looking for tailwind, preferable down hill as well. I do have a 66t I used on a Moulton Stowaway with 16 inch wheels, I had it made for me from alloy plate, sounded pretty wierd. I also had a 100t made for me, I have never used it but my brother did on a 400meter track, he only need to pedal 43 times to get around. He was pushing a gear of 245!!!!!!! Funny stuff.
Feel free to post your fastest speed on your tandems. Mine is over 90 km/h (56mp/h).
Cheeers, Tim (Aussie).

For us, tall gears are a must while doing rollers if we want to keep the momentum going.

We've downsized from stock 53T to 50Tx11 (26" wheels). We still have no problem overtaking fitter, stronger singles downhill or on rolling terrain.

Feel free to post your fastest speed on your tandems. Mine is over 90 km/h (56mp/h).
Cheeers, Tim (Aussie).

Our highest recorded speed is 58.5 mph (94.15 kph) with a 53x12 top gear. Of course we were tucked at the time, not pedaling. For us, huge gears are a waste. I'd rather have more gears in the range we typically use with smaller gaps between 'em. But if, on balance, big gears enhance your tandeming experience (and don't ruin your knees!), there is no reason not to have 'em.

Our highest speed was 58 mph (tucked - not pedaling). We have pedaled the bike up to 48 mph.

48/11 gearing top speed of 45mph while pedalling at a cadence of 150 and I said I never want to pedal that fast again- And never have. Coasting speed is down to you- We coast from about 35mph and offroad got to 53.8MPH On road we got to 52.8mph and our excuse to the Chief Constable (It was his ride in our County)was that cars got in the way and we had to brake. So we are still faster offroad than on the Tarmac.

To be honest- We rarely use that 48/11 even on the road. We try to keep our cadence at around 90 and are normally at least one gear down. And if we are riding on our hills- The middle ring gets used a lot and that granny comes in usefull aswell.

When you say tall gears, what size chainring and sprocket do you have? What's the go with tandem roller riding? Competition, fun, both, speed ?? Is it easy to keep you balance? I used to ride single bikes on rollers, how similar to that is it? What speed can you reach?

In Australia we did have a great tandem club, but it's not functioning at present, so any riding etc we do is by ourselves, not that that is a problem, Cheeers, Tim

I'm excited about becoming a member. My wife and I are keen tandem riders, have been doing so for about 17 years. I'd like to know who pushes the biggest gear out there? What size cahinring, wheel size and cog size? Cheeers

When I was young and stronger, we had a Holdsworth 531 USWB tandem with 64T chainring and 12T smallest sprocket. Don't ask me why - we bought it from a couple of racing guys:) Our sons and I used to thrash that thing, but we had no means of measuring our speed in those days.

Gabrielle and I rode with the local race group for the first time last night. We've been training harder and thought we could possibly keep up with them. We didn't get dropped like half the group so that was great.

However, during a wild tailwind sprint we were spinning like crazy to stay with them. One of the racers said if we moved up to a 58 we would have led the group. So, we're thinking of trying some racing or at least time trials and thinking of going bigger on the gears for the first time ever. We'll probably have to go larger on our middle ring gear also or we'll never make the jump up top.

Pat & Gabrielle
Team Cow (Iowa)

So, we're thinking of trying some racing or at least time trials and thinking of going bigger on the gears for the first time ever.

We have completed 3 TTs this season and we are having a lot of fun. Here is a link from our racing club featuring Karen Brems (formerly Kurreck),1994 World Time Trial Champion; 1997 US PRO Champion; 2000 US Olympian http://www.altovelo.org/training/timetrials.php

From the article..."In my opinion, time trialing is about 85% legs and lungs, 10% brain and 5% equipment. To train your legs, you need to do intervals of varying distance on a relatively flat or slightly rolling road (I use the Portola Valley Loop a lot), in your TT position. Time trialing requires both speed and endurance. To build speed, you need short intervals of 3-4 min. well above your race pace. and 5-10 min. intervals at or slightly above your race pace. To build aerobic power, do longer (15-20 min) intervals right around your anaerobic threshold (slightly below race pace). If your goal is to break an hour for a 40km TT (25mph) then try to work up to 3-4x15 min. @ 23.5 - 24mph. Do 8 min. intervals at 26-26.5 mph. Go 3 min. at 28mph. These are very difficult workouts if done correctly, so you need to be sure you are relatively fresh when you are doing them and recover afterwards.

As far as equipment goes, in order of importance (and price) you should get:

1. Aero bars

2. Fast wheels: a rear disk and an aero front wheel (such as a Specialized Tri-Spoke, Spinergy, HED Jet, Mavic Cosmic etc.) is the fastest combination. A regular spoked front wheel with few spokes (18-24) is a good (and much less expensive) substitute.

3. A TT bike."

Suggest you check out the results of your local races and see how other tandems are doing in TTs. There may be some practice TTs that you can enter to see if you like it.:)