Tandem Cycling - Our tandem has ruined my single

The ride on our tandem is so good that my single (Giant OCR1) feels like I'm perpetually on chip seal! Combination of a really good CF fork and My weight being closer to the middle of a long wheelbase and I'm riding in a cushy 70's highway cruiser (think old Caddy). My wife has a thudbuster, but I have no idea how the ride is back "there" in the coal car (or is that the caboose?). Not that the Giant is bad at 40+ mph mind you, but the tandem is like on rails. Oh, and did I mention that the tandem is a better fit.

No N+1/2 for me, however. I'm going to suck it up and continue to ride the Giant and live with the blurry image in my helmet-mounted mirror. Some day, however, I'm going to buy a new road bike and my standards have been raised oh so much.

Best money I've spent since I bought my first cordless drill.

Yeah, but then I go out to do a short TT on the old Trek 5200, put on the clip-ons, strip off the bottle cages, saddle bag, pump, and all that other crap, take it out of the lot and I feel like I could fly. It's so twitchy I can hardly keep it on the road. Love that, too.

Go to 25mm tires in youre single. Comfort before speed.

My wife and I like our tandem so much, and she likes to ride so much, that I hardly ever get to ride my single bikes any more. Glad you're in the same "fix". :)

Go to 25mm tires in youre single. Comfort before speed.

Best advice ever. 700x25 inflated at least 1 bar less than you are running in 700x23.
And you won't be giving up any speed either.

Sounds great! But I am running 25mm:) Actually, I have lowered the tire pressures from when I first started riding, but I am 205+. Running about 100 psi in the front and 110 rear. I'll experiment a bit more. Biggest difference I think is the tandem has a really high quality, albeit not super light, CF fork. The Giant also has a CF fork, but I expect not of quite the same design quality.

Sounds great! But I am running 25mm:) Actually, I have lowered the tire pressures from when I first started riding, but I am 205+. Running about 100 psi in the front and 110 rear. I'll experiment a bit more. Biggest difference I think is the tandem has a really high quality, albeit not super light, CF fork. The Giant also has a CF fork, but I expect not of quite the same design quality.

There are CF forks and there are ones that are made of CF- The OCR is just one that is made of CF and is probably heavier than a steel one. And try some Wheels that are laced x 2 or 3 on the OCR. Worked wonders on my TCR-C.

I am a stoker and use a thudbuster. Could never understand why the Pilot did not want or need one till I rode there. The long wheelbase and the pilot sitting just about centaral of the frame- gives a lot of comfort. Stokers and solo pilots on singles are sitting directly over a Tube (Seat tube) That has no give in it whatsoever.

This perhaps should be a topic for a new thread but as a blind stoker struggling to find pilots, I'm constantly having to try and convince them that riding the tandem will be good for their solo riding. Problem is that the tandem always feels heavier up hills which I think puts them off because it trashes their legs. Anyone got any thoughts on how riding tandems has affected their solo bike riding rather than just ride quality?

Our singles are just collecting dust since we got the tandem...

This perhaps should be a topic for a new thread but as a blind stoker struggling to find pilots, I'm constantly having to try and convince them that riding the tandem will be good for their solo riding. Problem is that the tandem always feels heavier up hills which I think puts them off because it trashes their legs. Anyone got any thoughts on how riding tandems has affected their solo bike riding rather than just ride quality?

Since starting to ride tandem with my wife last July, I've gone on only a couple of "long" (century+) rides by myself. But on the most recent one, I was flying. I finished the century (with 7000 feet of climbing) in 8-1/2 hours, about 1-1/2 hours faster than I would have expected. So I think that riding on the tandem is making me stronger for riding on the single.

Sounds great! But I am running 25mm:) Actually, I have lowered the tire pressures from when I first started riding, but I am 205+. Running about 100 psi in the front and 110 rear. I'll experiment a bit more. Biggest difference I think is the tandem has a really high quality, albeit not super light, CF fork. The Giant also has a CF fork, but I expect not of quite the same design quality.

I suspect the real difference is between the frame material. I'm assuming you're riding the aluminum OCR1 (as opposed to the carbon fiber OCR-C1) and from the vintage of your tandem, it's probably steel. Couple that with the long wheelbase of the tandem and the fact that you're sitting in the middle of that long span between the wheels and it will ride like a dream compared to the Giant.

For what it's worth, our relatively low-end steel Burley Duet gives me a ride that absolutely blows away the ride I get on my full carbon framed OCR-C.