Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.joe@vwvortex
06-22-09, 05:58 PM
Bottom Line: I don't necessarily disagree with your thesis; however, most of the fit issues that plague tandem bike buyers -- entry, mid- and high-end level -- are the same issues that single bike buyers must face. Most buyers simply make due with the basline equipment and do just fine. In those situations where there are fit issues that could be limiting a team's ability to ride as long, strong or comfortably as they like... there are options.
I agree with regards to equipment, as there are plenty of reasonably priced alternatives for cranks, stems, bars etc. to allow for proper fit. What is more difficult for a Tandem is frame fit. Unless you go semi-custom or custom, either the captain, stoker or both are going to have to make some concessions. We ran into this when purchasing our Speedster. We were lucky enough to ride a variety of different sized CoMo's and based upon our single bike sizing decided that a Large/Medium would be fine. However, after riding it a while - we both agree a longer stoker compartment would be ideal. I sometimes kick myself for not ordering a slightly longer top tube but we've managed to make enough adjustments - cut the adjustable stoker stem to allow the bars to be pushed forward a bit more and switch to cowhorn style bars - which my stoker really likes.
The other issue is standover height for me - it's a bit tall - but not really a problem. I needed the large for the longer top tube length - and I still run a 120mm stem due to have pretty long arms. On my roadbike - I have a sloping top tube - so fit is fine. IN reality - we might have gotten away with a medium/medium with custom top tube lengths for both captain and stoker. That all being said - we couldn't be happier for our first tandem.
I agree with regards to equipment, as there are plenty of reasonably priced alternatives for cranks, stems, bars etc. to allow for proper fit. What is more difficult for a Tandem is frame fit. Unless you go semi-custom or custom, either the captain, stoker or both are going to have to make some concessions. We ran into this when purchasing our Speedster. We were lucky enough to ride a variety of different sized CoMo's and based upon our single bike sizing decided that a Large/Medium would be fine. However, after riding it a while - we both agree a longer stoker compartment would be ideal. I sometimes kick myself for not ordering a slightly longer top tube but we've managed to make enough adjustments - cut the adjustable stoker stem to allow the bars to be pushed forward a bit more and switch to cowhorn style bars - which my stoker really likes.
The other issue is standover height for me - it's a bit tall - but not really a problem. I needed the large for the longer top tube length - and I still run a 120mm stem due to have pretty long arms. On my roadbike - I have a sloping top tube - so fit is fine. IN reality - we might have gotten away with a medium/medium with custom top tube lengths for both captain and stoker. That all being said - we couldn't be happier for our first tandem.