faster?

[Omalley21145]

is tandem biking faster than single biking? bcuz two people would be stronger but more weight, i think the weight wouldnt effect that much of the speed compared to the strength of two riders?

[Trsnrtr]

Originally posted by Omalley21145
is tandem biking faster than single biking? bcuz two people would be stronger but more weight, i think the weight wouldnt effect that much of the speed compared to the strength of two riders?

Most tandem teams that I've ridden with, tend to be faster and capable of longer distances with less stress. Though my wife and I ride singles, too, we generally ride the tandem for long distance rides and rides we know to be of a "faster" level. There is a synergistic effect on a tandem.

[Cipher]

Also consider the stoker basically is drafting his driver, and can deliver that much more to the pedals!

[TwinTraveller]

There is one exception to the rule:
Riding uphill is usually slower with a tandem, although practise helps.

TwinTraveller

[meltable]

A tandem is like taking two riders on regular bikes, combining their power and reducing the total air resistance. So a tandem should go faster than the same two riders on regular bikes. I don't see it being any slower up a hill because there is more weight but also more power. Any thoughts on this?

[Trsnrtr]

I can only give anecdotal testimony and here goes:

My wife and I have both ridden singles and tandems since 1982. My wife is an accomplished rider who can hold her own in most groups of riders. We were both USCF racers in the 80s.

Now, we do climb some hills faster on a tandem than we do on singles but many hills, we do not. It seems to depend upon the grade and length. Longer hills seem to eventually wear us down and we end up in lower and lower gears and boy, tandems have some lowwwww gears. Also, very steep hills can cause us to come to a near stand-still.

There are many hills that seem to be made for tandems, though, and I guess those are the ones that keep a team coming back. Roller type hills are excellent on a tandem as are some long light grades, say 3-4%.

Lastly, that single rider wind resistance factor on a tandem doesn't mean much at lower speeds, however the double weight is a real killer.

[brad]

Yes, I'd have to say we're WAY FASTER on our tandem than we are on our singles. The first "real" tour we did that also had a USCF race we hung with the pack that would have dropped us in like 2 miles on singles. The leaders drafted off us for like the first 25 miles. Then we hit the hills, can you say, SEE YA!! We got blown way off the back on the very first climb. We're getting better at climbing but, we still get passed by fit singles on steep climbs.