Phantoj
04-17-08, 10:20 AM
Greetings!
I took advantage of the great weather yesterday and got out for a little tandem ride on the local bike path. My total tandem milage has reached 100.
:)
I bought this tandem at the end of last year - it's a 1998 Cannondale RT1000. Seemed to have very low miles, pretty much all original. I added a kid stoker setup from chucksbikes.com, and I'm using a seatpost, threadless MTB stem, and a set of kids' bike handlebars for the stoker.
On the back, I have a Topeak Babysitter child seat for the passenger (who just turned 2). It's easy to take it off and just leave a rack for when he's not riding with us.
My stoker is a very tall-for-his-age four year old. He'll turn five in July. He had been riding with me in a Burley Encore behind a road bike since he was 1-1/2. We managed to wear the original tires on the Burley down to the cords - I'm guessing we did about a thousand miles together. Last year, we didn't do as much trailering. Mostly, that was due to the oldest child getting bored in the trailer, and the oldest and youngest not getting along very well in the trailer together... as well as time constraints.
The tandem is great! It's a lot more fun than the road bike + trailer. It's a lot more social - I chat a bit with my stoker, especially if we're riding slow on a clogged bike trail. When the path traffic thins out, the tandem is quite a bit faster than the road bike + trailer ever was. Both kids love the tandem. I really think a tandem is the best way to bike with kids.
Tandem communication? We don't do any! I stand when I need to, and I try to be careful not to rock the bike. Last night, I was climbing up a pretty significant hill. At the end of the hill, I got out of the saddle to push through the final grade. Because the sun was behind me, I could see our shadows, and I noticed that my stoker had jumped out of his seat and was standing along with me. Pretty cool! When I sat back down, so did he. :)
We live close to a nice bike trail, and that's where we've done our riding so far. If we ride the entire path both ways, we can total about 20 miles. It's fun because there are two parks with playgrounds along the path and a shaved ice stand in the summer. Also, we go by the farm where the famous Budweiser Clydesdales are kept - they are fun to stop and look at sometimes. So it's not just a two-hour grind for the kids; that's probably part of why they like it so much.
Having a kid on a tandem attracts a lot of attention. When we stop, I often get questions and positive comments. It's great!
I took advantage of the great weather yesterday and got out for a little tandem ride on the local bike path. My total tandem milage has reached 100.
:)
I bought this tandem at the end of last year - it's a 1998 Cannondale RT1000. Seemed to have very low miles, pretty much all original. I added a kid stoker setup from chucksbikes.com, and I'm using a seatpost, threadless MTB stem, and a set of kids' bike handlebars for the stoker.
On the back, I have a Topeak Babysitter child seat for the passenger (who just turned 2). It's easy to take it off and just leave a rack for when he's not riding with us.
My stoker is a very tall-for-his-age four year old. He'll turn five in July. He had been riding with me in a Burley Encore behind a road bike since he was 1-1/2. We managed to wear the original tires on the Burley down to the cords - I'm guessing we did about a thousand miles together. Last year, we didn't do as much trailering. Mostly, that was due to the oldest child getting bored in the trailer, and the oldest and youngest not getting along very well in the trailer together... as well as time constraints.
The tandem is great! It's a lot more fun than the road bike + trailer. It's a lot more social - I chat a bit with my stoker, especially if we're riding slow on a clogged bike trail. When the path traffic thins out, the tandem is quite a bit faster than the road bike + trailer ever was. Both kids love the tandem. I really think a tandem is the best way to bike with kids.
Tandem communication? We don't do any! I stand when I need to, and I try to be careful not to rock the bike. Last night, I was climbing up a pretty significant hill. At the end of the hill, I got out of the saddle to push through the final grade. Because the sun was behind me, I could see our shadows, and I noticed that my stoker had jumped out of his seat and was standing along with me. Pretty cool! When I sat back down, so did he. :)
We live close to a nice bike trail, and that's where we've done our riding so far. If we ride the entire path both ways, we can total about 20 miles. It's fun because there are two parks with playgrounds along the path and a shaved ice stand in the summer. Also, we go by the farm where the famous Budweiser Clydesdales are kept - they are fun to stop and look at sometimes. So it's not just a two-hour grind for the kids; that's probably part of why they like it so much.
Having a kid on a tandem attracts a lot of attention. When we stop, I often get questions and positive comments. It's great!