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dsaftne
09-06-04, 11:05 AM
Hi! This is my first posting.

We own a tandem and ride it locally. We would like to take it by car to local parks and some bike trails that are too far away to ride the bike to. We own a Bonneville sedan. What would be the best way to carry the tandem. It seems too wide to fit on a traditional bike rack.

Thanks for your help.

DocF
09-06-04, 12:36 PM
To move our Cannondale tandem locally, we just hang it on the rack on the back of my Kia Sportage. If we are going further than 25 miles or so, we will take off at least the front wheel. While it is wider than the vehicle, It is not over 8 feet wide and is legal here in North Carolina.

Doc

tornadobass
09-06-04, 12:42 PM
We take our tandem to local rides on a hitch mount Hollywood rack on the back of our minivan. It's a bit wider than than van, but not much more than the width of the mirrors.

Dan

TandemGeek
09-06-04, 03:10 PM
What would be the best way to carry the tandem.

Actually, as others have already noted, you can hang a tandem on a trunk or receiver mount without too much touble. For short trips where you won't be crusing along at highway speeds it's usually not a big deal to leave the wheels on. However, if your front wheel has a quick release skewer it would be preferrable to take the front wheel off and off-set the tandem to one side to minimize how much of the bike extends beyond the width of the vehicle. For long trips, most tandems are not wider than even smaller imports with both the front & back wheels removed.

zonatandem
09-06-04, 11:12 PM
Agree with the other posts; we carry our tandem inside a Honda Accord station wagon. We can remove front wheel only and get the whole tandem inside the Honda; for longer trips (just finished a 7,000+ mile sojourn this summer) we remove both wheels and load tandem on top of all necessary luggage. Must qualify that statement by saying ours is a very short wheelbased custom tandem (63 1/2" wheelbase).
Amazingly, with a little ingenuity/thinking there are many ways to haul that 2-seater!
Good luck!
Rudy & Kay/Zona tandem