Tandem Cycling - Tandem in an Element

It's been asked about a couple times. A tandem will fit in an Element with some work. The tandem is a 2004? medium CoMotion Speedster. I'm 6'1 and my wife is 5'9 so the bars and saddles look high. The riser on the fork mount allows the brifters to take advantage of the window pocket space. I plan to remodel the fork riser in the fall as well as exploring a mount that will let me remove the rear wheel for longer trips. If you have any questions I'll answer as best I can.

For our Saturday rides my daughter is the stoker so I load my wife's single next to the tandem and my daughter rides in the rear seat.

Will be loading up our tandem + my single + luggage for a 1,000 mile trip back to Tucson.
All fits very well *inside* our '97 Accord Station Wagon! Bit of disassembly required: remove wheels, pedals and seats/stoker stem.
Been doing that for years . . . works for us!

Hi Rudy! I've seen your tandem and it's smaller than most! Our L/S Co-Mo barely fits in our Element but is tolerable for short drives.

We have a Davinci tandem and use our kiwi green element to transport it. Usually we take of the front wheel and but the back and pedals between the seats and it fits with no problems. we can also leave the wheel on but the handlebar has to be turned quite a bit. My job is to put the wheel back on. I finally can do it! Still have trouble attaching the brake but am working on it. If our son goes with his road bike we take off his fron tire too. we have only the 2 seats in the car with one folded up on the side if another person should come. Enjoy your Honda!

1998 Civic LX...

Inside:
- Our old Santana (size 54/52).
- Gear/clothes for a long weekend in the Eastern Sierra and Yosemite, including a double century in the Eastern Sierra.
- Cooler/food/etc...

We only had to remove the wheels and rotate the Stoker bars 90 deg.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3459/3824251857_11627811c6_o.jpg

We too have an Element, but with manual transmission. Don't think we could shift with setup like yours. Hmmm, but maybe it's worthing trying for the fun of it.

Shifting would definitely be a challenge with the rear wheel in place. If I had a manual I would already have worked out an alternate solution.

One caveat?? If you don't have armrests you can move the tandem more to the right or have the rear wheel lower. I need the additional height so the rear derailleur will easily clear the armrests. If I think about it I'll take a picture from the driver's side next time. Also keep in mind that one of my goals is to carry 3 adults that are all over 5'7, a tandem, a single and all our gear. If I was only carrying 2 adults and the tandem different solutions would be available. Keep in mind that one of the posters carries a tandem in a Honda Fit!!

Keep in mind that one of the posters carries a tandem in a Honda Fit!!

That's our next car.

Check this out:
http://www.blayleys.com/articles/cars/index.htm
(I'm not that tall, so I can most likely keep my seat in).

http://www.blayleys.com/articles/cars/fit3.jpg

http://www.blayleys.com/articles/cars/fit2.jpg

If I had a manual I would already have worked out an alternate solution.

We transport the tandem in the back of our other car, Subaru Baja. Works great and can theoretically fit 4 (smaller) adults and additional bikes in rear and on roof rack.

Unfortunately, withe the Baja, bikes are subject to the elements (pun intended.)

We had a roof rack but my wife was always worried about having the bikes on top exposed to the Elements both weather and potential theives. Before we start talking about potential theft... after 21 years of marriage I don't argue about some things.

Racks have been discussed before and as long as you get to the ride and can ride that's all that really matters. One of our saturday tandem riders used to bring their tandem on a jon boat trailer.

We won't make STR this year but we are taking the tandem to a century ride in Montgomery, AL over Labor Day weekend. If I win early registration we'll take part in the GTR 2010 as well.

This thread reminds me of putting our large Santana Soverign Tandem inside an old 80's VW Rabbit hatch back. Manual shifting was a bit of a problem but it all worked out surprisingly well. It was probably similarly sized to the Honda Fit pictured earlier.