Tandem Cycling - How much faster is a tandem?

Ok, here is my situation. My wife and I have both been road cycling for several years. We mostly ride for exercise and to train to ride in MS150 rides. My wife has a coworker who has a tandem that his wife and daughter no longer ride with him. He has been trying to get us to try it for a while now, and so far we have not taken him up on the offer as I wanted my wife to get more comfortable riding and handling a bike. Now we are at the point where she is just slightly slower than I am, but she does a good job keeping up on ride up to 45-50 miles at an average of 14-15mph.

So here is the problem. I have MS. I am finding that the heat is starting to get to me more easily...but I still want to ride in the MS rides and be able to finish the first day (typically between 90 and 100 miles). I figure the best way to do that is minimize the time I spend in the heat, which means riding faster to finish sooner. I also figure the best way to help my wife keep up is to ride a tandem. But my question is this...how much faster is a tandem with two reasonably well matched riders than either rider on a single? Is it worth it to take the step back and learn to ride the tandem with about a little over 2 months before the next MS150 ride? Will we be faster on the tandem? Or should we go ahead and ride this one on singles and try out the tandem after the MS150 is over?

Thanks in advance for the input!

My wife & I have just started riding together on our tandem. 2 rides to date! She is a non rider that literally gives up after about a mile riding a single. We averaged about 17mph on a rolling course for 28 miles last evening. Tandems are much faster than a single in every area except up hill. Hills blow our average speed. Not sure this helps?

Without training, I would expect you and your wife to pick up 2 to 3 miles per hour (above the faster rider's average speed) on the flats...more on the down hills, if you are so inclined. Hills that you can ride up easily at 10 MPH on your single will go at 6 MPH on the tandem (and will not be easy).

If you actually spend the next two months training, you'll be even faster at all of the above.

Ok, good responses so far...let me add a little to the question. I know everybody here is from all over the country/world...so lets define "hills". I am from Southeast Texas (Houston). The biggest hill in town is the local landfill. We have to drive about an hour to get to rolling country with some inclines to practice on. The hills in the MS150 that we usually ride are probably 50-100 feet of elevation gain over about 1/4-1/2 mile...so maybe 2-3% grade for fairly short distances...and are generally rolling hills, so you can rock them fairly well on a single or easily spin up them without always dropping into the granny gear. Is the difficulty with hills on a tandem caused by longer steeper grades that cause you to have to grind in the granny gear? Or is it caused by the inefficiency of downshifting? In other words, if the hills are short and rolling...will the superior downhill speed on the tandem make them easier to rock over than a single?

Basically a tandem has an aerodynamic advantage at speeds above 10 mph or so. Below that aerodynamics isn't a factor. If the hill you are climbing slows you to 10 mph, the tandem loses its advantage. It is not at a disadvantage.

If one rider can climb a hill on their single bike at 10 mph and the other can climb at 8 mph, they will likely ride at about 9 mph on a tandem (assuming the tandem weighs about as much as the 2 single bikes).

When climbing it is simply power to weight ratio that determines how fast the team will climb.

I'd say if you can each climb the hills on your own, you'll do fine on the tandem.

More power to you!

Since we live in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, what you described as hills are nice rollers in my view so I think you will find the tandem to be big fun and quick...just do your hills like you have been doing on your singles..get a run on 'em...spin up the rpm and blow right over the top. If you and your wife click well on the tandem you are going to have a blast.
Our experience on the speed side of the issue is we are generally average 1-2 mph faster on the flats but are considerably slower on big hills than I am on my single. My wife does not ride a single at all but is in reasonably good shape and carries her share of the load fairly well.
'can't help but highly recommend that you give the tandem a serious try assuming it is road worthy and is on a near par with your single bikes. My biggest suggestion is that you start out quite easy and be patient in all aspects of the experience. Ride easy, don't worry about speed at first, but work hard on getting comfortable with starting, stopping and communication with your wife...be particularly sensitive to the major transition your wife will be making to the tandem as well. It truly is a team deal..a little patience and it will all come good.
I truly enjoy riding my single bike but it absolutely pales in comparison to a good day on the tandem ...give it a try and best of luck
Bill J.

Because you are working as a team, your relationship will become more intense. The pluses will get much better, the negative parts will become really bad. If you have a lot of pluses in the relationship go for it. If there are a lot of negatives, be cautious and go slow. It took my wife and I about 20 years to make a good team.

On rolling hills, there is a momentum factor. You pick up a lot of speed going downhill, and your momentum carries you quite a ways up the next. If the uphills are not too long, sometimes very little effort is required. When climbing longer hills (we live in Colorado), my experience had been that our climbing speed is about the average between my solo climbing speed and stoker solo climbing speed. Basically, the power is the average of the two riders. When we first started riding the tandem, I tried to climb at the same speeds I was used to solo. All I did was blow myself up! Learned to keep and eye on the heart rate monitor to keep from redlining every time we went uphill!

My experience with tandeming is that my wife and I go about the same average speed as I do on my single bike but with less effort. I think in the terrain that you're describing, that will be the case.

:) Hi, my wife is pretty much a non bike person so we work together and ride for fun and exercise. I can, and have, ridden much faster on the tandem by myself, but I know my wife is trying to do her best to help me. Buy the tandem and enjoy sharing with your wife and not be too concerned about speed. We are in our early sixties, so your opinions and priorities might be different than ours.

We took up tandeming about 2 yrs ago. Both of us experienced recreational cyclists in our early 40s. I was a slightly stronger rider than the stoker, but now we are close in ability. We found even on our first ride on the new tandem on a 2o mile loop from home familiar to us (flat to slighly rolling hills) that our average speed increased immediately by 1.5 - 2 mph with less effort. Now that we are comfortable with the tandem we find even on hilly routes we can end up with similar average speed as our singles, though with equal or greater effort. But on flat routes or in head winds our average may be as much as 2 -3 mph faster. The tandems on our local MS ride seem to do quite well as it is a flat and often windy route. The nice thing with the tandem is you have your own built-in drafting partner, so no need to jump into the pacelines of single bikes with questionable riding abilities.


Is it worth it to take the step back and learn to ride the tandem with about a little over 2 months before the next MS150 ride? Will we be faster on the tandem? Or should we go ahead and ride this one on singles and try out the tandem after the MS150 is over? Thats a tough question. If you are both experienced cyclists, then learning the learning curve really is not that steep. You will catch on quickly. 2 months would be plenty of time to learn the tandem if you can get some miles on it during that time. Best of luck.

Basically a tandem has an aerodynamic advantage at speeds above 10 mph or so. Below that aerodynamics isn't a factor. If the hill you are climbing slows you to 10 mph, the tandem loses its advantage. It is not at a disadvantage.

If one rider can climb a hill on their single bike at 10 mph and the other can climb at 8 mph, they will likely ride at about 9 mph on a tandem (assuming the tandem weighs about as much as the 2 single bikes).

When climbing it is simply power to weight ratio that determines how fast the team will climb.



Well put. It's surprising how many people don't get this. It's the loss of the aerodynamic advantage on hills, that creates the perception that tandems climb slowly.

So a tandem team with a lower power to weight ratio can keep up with single riders with higher power to weight ratios on the flats. But when the roads turn up the aero advantage is nuetralized, and the tandem team with the lower power to weight ratio falls behind.

However if the tandem team had a higher power to weight ratio than the single riders, the tandem team could outclimb the singles.

Thanks for all of the replies. It has definitely given me something to think about. We may borrow the tandem and give it a test ride sometime in the next week or two.

One great thing i have noticed about riding a tandem is MOMENTUM. In north Georgia we have nothing but hills. The flattest areas are what most people call "rollers". The best technique for short hills seems to be using your speed coming off a hill to carry you up the next. That may seem obvious but on a tandem it is much more effective than on a single.

My experience is that most successful tandem couples enjoy each others company and communicate better than most couples. If you're both fairly strong riders and your partner trusts you, you'll no doubt enjoy tandemming and realize a significant bump in speed. On the other hand, captaining a tandem is physically more demanding, requiring more attention and upper body strength than riding a single. I'd suggest an extended (10-20 mile) trial before leaping in.
By the way, we have a member of our club that rides a single high performance trike and stays with many of the riders. I believe there are similar trike tandems available that might work for you.
I'm inspired by your attitude and emotional grit. Enjoy!

A tandem is a tandem . . . right?
Not quite . . . .
What kind of tandem are we talking about?
Single speed? Mt. bike tandem? Road tandem? Heavy/old Schwinn Twinn, Wallmart, or Diamondback, KHS, Burley, Co-Motion, Santana?
A heavier/older tandem will mean more work for the team and so would a mt. bike tandem with knobby tires. Your hills are not that bad but some gearing would be preferable over single or 3-speed.
And the tandem will not be faster than the combined sustained power supplied by the riders.
As to the MS and heat issue; talk to the organizers and see if you two can start off ahead of the main group by an hour or even half hour.
Also, wear a wet bandana and a wet cycling cap to keep body core heat down. Re-wet as needed.
If you decide on the tandem do get in several practice rides as you'll need to feel comfortable with handling ((Yup . . . it' longer than that single) correct reach to the bars and saddle height; a saddle you can live with and learn to communicate on the tandem. If you don't tell your wife/stoker when to coast, pedal, when you're shifting/braking/turning she'll be in for some surprises and not a pleasant rideR riding a tandem is a bit different than riding your singles. So get out there and get in some rides!
But, on a tandem you will leave TWOgether, ride TWOgether and finish TWOgether!
Pedal on!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Good suggestions, but the start is in an urban area with some crowded streets, so they have traffic control, etc. setup to handle the start. Also, as it is later in the year, they start pretty much at sunrise...so starting earlier means riding in the dark, and they seem loath to do that for liability reasons. I typically carry one water bottle on the bike that is only there to give me cool water to dump over my head. A wet towel or even the cooling vests would only last about 15 minutes in 85-95F in our humid conditions. Then they turn around and hold heat in.

I know the tandem her coworker has is a road tandem with multiple gears, but I really don't know much beyond that. I am trying to get more info about it, but he has been in the field alot lately.

A wet towel or even the cooling vests would only last about 15 minutes in 85-95F in our humid conditions.

During the Davis Double this year, temperatures reached 111 at one point. Someone had the bright idea to hand out socks filled with ice to hang around your neck. They worked really well and my stoker doubts whether she would have been able to finish the ride without them. If the ice did melt completely, you could stow the sock until the next rest stop to fill it with more ice.

There are a few factors that can affect tandem speed compared to single speed. Differing riding styles can also hinder your speed. Given the terrain you describe, I would think you could move along much faster on the tandem. The first event I did on tandem I was uncomfortable with drafting since I had not had much opportunity to do it on tandem yet. I however found that I was able to keep pace with groups who were drafting however too far ahead for us to draft. If you have time to practice on the tandem, get comfortable with drafting and also using your momentum to ride the terrain you should be able to complete the ride faster. The best way to answer "How much faster?" though is to get on the tandem and do some training rides.