Tandem Cycling - stoker bars

i'm thinking of adding profile (or another brand) stoker bars to our tandem to give my stoker more variety in hand positions ( we have flat bar now). is the width of the stoker bar usually a certain width? is it related to width of stokers shoulders? does it have to be a certain width to clear/not interfere with captain's legs/hips? thanks in advance!

steve

If you are thinking of adding the handlebars normally found on the front of a road bike to the back of the tandem, they are in my opinion the best bars you can put on the back of a tandem intended for use on the road because of the variety of hand positions possible, better for example than the "cowhorn" time trial bars, which have fewer positions.

On a normal production road tandem, the stoker handlebars and/or the stoker "dummy brake levers" (get those) with a normal-sized stoker, will overlap the captain's butt/hips, and therefore unless you are rather thin, you will probably want to use handlebars of nominal 44-46 cm (more likely 46cm) measurement, keeping in mind that different manufacturers measure their handlebars different ways, i.e. c-t-c or outside edge to outside edge. Measure the ones you plan to use or ask how they are measured (!). These dimensions are considered to be wider than the average woman would normally use on a single bike.

A change in handlebar type may require a change in handlebar distance from the seatpost or handlebar height. Be prepared to adjust or change the stoker stem.

My regular stoker will be out of town, but if I can get somebody signed up, I am thinking about doing the FWBA Stan Ford Venus (TX) ride on tandem January 10. It seems unlikely today that I will have a stoker signed up for the Saturday Jan. 3 FWBA ("Muddy, Doggy, Stinky"(?)) ride.

If you are thinking of adding the handlebars normally found on the front of a road bike to the back of the tandem, they are in my opinion the best bars you can put on the back of a tandem intended for use on the road because of the variety of hand positions possible, better for example than the "cowhorn" time trial bars, which have fewer positions.

On a normal production road tandem, the stoker handlebars and/or the stoker "dummy brake levers" (get those) with a normal-sized stoker, will overlap the captain's butt/hips, and therefore unless you are rather thin, you will probably want to use handlebars of nominal 44-46 cm (more likely 46cm) measurement, keeping in mind that different manufacturers measure their handlebars different ways, i.e. c-t-c or outside edge to outside edge. Measure the ones you plan to use or ask how they are measured (!). These dimensions are considered to be wider than the average woman would normally use on a single bike.

A change in handlebar type may require a change in handlebar distance from the seatpost or handlebar height. Be prepared to adjust or change the stoker stem.

My regular stoker will be out of town, but if I can get somebody signed up, I am thinking about doing the FWBA Stan Ford Venus (TX) ride on tandem January 10. It seems unlikely today that I will have a stoker signed up for the Saturday Jan. 3 FWBA ("Muddy, Doggy, Stinky"(?)) ride.I am ready to replace our stoker bar with a road bike drop bar so that my stoker can have more hand positions and also for gripping while "out of the saddle". Do you know of an online source that sells the brake hoods alone that could be used for this purpose? Thanks.

Most any tandem dealer with an online catalog should have stoker dummy brake levers, including of course, Mark Johnson at Precision Tandems. They can be found under "Parts" on his website.

I will have my tandem at FWBA "Muddy, Doggy, Stinky", Jan. 3.

Howdy from Tucson, Steve!
Rear bars: pilot's quads need to fit between stoker's bar without hampering stoker's hand position.
Apair of wide drop bars would give several more hand positions for your stoker than 'cowhorns'. On drop bars you can also add stoker's handrests; basically dummy brake levers, for one more hand position. Some stoker's object and say 'we don't need drops on the back', however if you're doing a great downhill coast the stoker can really get aero, if she wants to to.

Do you know of an online source that sells the brake hoods alone that could be used for this purpose? Thanks.

As already noted, Mark Johnson at PrecisionTandems.com stocks & sells the Dia Comp brand of stoker pegs. They are listed at $40/pr.
http://www.precisiontandems.com/catalogpartsweb.htm#levers

Mel Kornbluh at TandemsEast.com also lists the Dia Comp Blaze stoker peg but for $35/pr along with a simple round peg model at $16.
http://www.tandemseast.com/stoker.html

If you want to go even cheaper, see if your LBS or any of your cycling buds has a pair of old drop-bar, brake-only levers laying around that they'd either give or sell to you for $5. Remove the brake lever arms by removing the pivot and you're done. If you have access to shop tools and know a little bit about metal fabrication, you can easily downsize and reshape the brake lever arms to create a non-threatening "stubby" lever that looks just like the one on the Dia Comp Blaze.

Some stoker's object and say 'we don't need drops on the back', however if you're doing a great downhill coast the stoker can really get aero, if she wants to to.

Rudy,

To be fair, that's probably because any stoker of average or above average height will end up with their nose or cheek planted on their captain's back and/or butt when they go into the drops... hardly a desireable scenario thus, I don't find fault with many of the objections (been there, didn't like it). ;^)

Scott's (aka, SDS) tandem "Moby" http://home.att.net/~thetandemlink/pictures/gallery/moby.jpg is perhaps the far end of the bell curve in long stoker compartments, but it's not unreasonable to expect that many of the more aggressive tandem teams would greatly benefit from tandems with stoker compartments that are 10 - 15% longer than what is offered for "stock" by most builders.

At 5'2" in height, Debbie's stoker compartment is a generous 31" which really does permit her to "go aero" in that she rides "behind" instead of somewhat "on top" of me.