DDonner

Hi All,

I picked up a tandem for my wife and I and would like to know how you transport yours? Taking the bike apart to fit it in our van is a pain. Thinking about a hitch rack, but wanted to inquire before I pulled the trigger. Thanks.

New2Two

We have a Civic and a Grand Marquis. Transporting via the civic is out, so we have the Rocky Mounts Tandem Tailpipe for the back of the Grand Marquis. Our J/M C-dale fits within the mirrors with only the front wheel off. It also doubles as a repair stand if needed.

diabloridr

What kind of van do you have and why is disassembly needed?

Minivan's such as an Odyssey, Sienna, or Caravan are typically the go-to vehicles for tandem transport.

DDonner

05 Ford Freestar. With the middle seat in the up position, both wheels have to come off for the bike to fit.

reburns

I use a draft master with the tandem rail.

diabloridr

Sorry you have the bench middle seat instead of the optional 2nd row captains seats which would allow easy roll on/roll out.


An out of the box solution might be to investigate acquiring the captains seats from a junker or similar and substitute for what you have.


Good luck.

JanMM

We use an ATOC/Thule Tandem Topper rack (with pivoting fork mount) on Yakima crossbars on the roof of our Mazda5.
Have to remove front wheel and seats (its a recumbent) first. Hitch mount or trunk mount on the back would not work on this car because the bike would stick out too far. In the last month, we've carried our tandem on two trips, first to Milwaukee and then to Des Moines/Ankeny (roughly 2000 miles total) and averaged about 25mpg with a big bike on the roof. That's tolerable.

jays35

I haul mine with an older version of the draft master when we travel long distances and a roof rack modified to fit my receiver hitch when we ride locally. The bike is perpendicular to the vehicle, overhanging the car, just even with the side mirrors.

Dave

Bezalel

I use a trunk mounted Reese SportWing (there is a hitch mounted model as well). If it's the only bike I'm carrying, I remove the rear wheel. If I'm carrying a single as well, I remove both wheels.


The Tandem only fits in the outermost position.

waynesulak

Have used rear racks many times and they work but I was never happy with our bike hanging out there ready to be made into a bike sandwich by the driver behind. Consider having to convince the other guy's insurance that your bike has a $5,000-$15,000 replacement cost.

We need to remove wheels as well to get out bike inside our little SUV so I use a narrow piece of plywood for the bike to stand on with a couple straps to hold it vertical. Taking the wheels off to go in wheel bags and putting the frame in is a one man job that takes just a few minutes. A little bungie cord hooked on the stoker's saddle rail holds the chain up, tight and out of the way.

The first time I drove for hours on the highway in pouring rain with the bike inside and not getting all the bearings power washed behind my car made it all worth while. Reached our destination, put the wheels on and rode a nice dry clean bike.

We typically ride from the house so I don't have to do this procedure every day. While I think our method is as easy as dealing with a rack, if we drove to every ride I would consider getting a van to make the process easier.

Paul J

We have a 2013 Honda CR-v with a trailer hitch rack mount. For long drives I take off the wheels and slide it in on it's side. The rear drop-outs come up between the seats so I have an old pillow case that I fit over the derailleur to keep grease at bay. On shorted runs I put it on the rear rack and drop both wheels which keeps it easily inside the mirrors. With it on the rack it is easy to refit the wheels or make any adjustments you might wan to do before a ride. I think the next car we will move up to the Pilot which will probably fit the bike behind the front seats completely. It is easy to put the wheels in and out so taking them off isn't an issue for us.

DCwom

We had a Grand Caravan with a middle bench but I was able to put the bike in by tucking it against the side with the forks going in the small opening that allows you to get past the middle bench and into to the back bench. In other words, the forks were next to the sliding door and the handle bars were right behind the passenger seat with the rear tire back at the hatch opening, of course the front wheel had to come off. I would take a picture but we just replaced it with another Grand Caravan with stow & go seats so we roll down the middle. Yes we bought the new Grand Caravan specifically to haul the tandem...

vrooom3440

We have a ATOC/Thule Tandem Topper rack. Works well. I usually just lift the bike up so getting the big bike up that high can be a challenge. The rack *does* have a swivel head feature that in theory allows you to put just one end up and on at a time. But clearance on the side of the vehicle can be a bit challenging.

We have mounted it on top of: A) 2011 Subaru Outback on the Subaru roof rack crossbars using Subaru's adapters, B) 2014 Ford F150 on top of pickup bed using a set of Yakima cross bars, and C) 2007 Ford Mustang GT using a Yakima roof rack.

I would get another without reserve.

StephenH

When I got my tandem, I had a Ford Ranger single-cab pickup. The tandem would fit in the bed diagonally with the front wheel off, and that's how I carried it. I had one of those fork clamps on the bed of the pickup.


Since then, I've gotten a Ford Transit Connect long-wheel-base cargo van. The tandem fits in it without removing anything. Rear wheel protrudes slightly up between the seats and the front wheel is sideways against the back doors.

gracehowler

We carried it on top (ATOC), we carried on the back, horizontal and vertical, and decided only way is inside. Yes, we have a big enough vehicle, we like it, safe, clean, no road grime, we use a utility van so it's outasight-outamind!
R&J

B. Carfree

We either ride it to where we're going or we ride it to the train station and break it down into two halves and box them. In 28 years of riding tandems, we've only put a tandem on a motor vehicle two times, and both times it was on top of vanagons back in '89; it's hard to ride a tandem when the headset fails.

Sprout97 

We have a Yakima Sidewinder, w/ their towers, crossbars & deflector on the Admiral's, er stoker's, new Honda Fit. (My wife got her Hyundai Elantra totaled last month, and I transferred what I could, which ended up being just the locks, 'winder, & bars [the latter are 48", and Yakima is currently calling for 40" for the Honda][I may end up getting the 40" bars, though].) As for tight fit, there's about an inch clearance between the rear wheel and the the open hatch! Other than that test fit, we haven't traveled with it, but I don't expect any problems on the road. I would add that it's harder to load (at least by myself) as the Honda is taller than the Elantra, and the Sidewinder has to be carried 6-7" further toward the centerline of the car, making it farther reach. So as others have alluded to, we may end up with a small step stool. Or two.

Artmo 

I have a used Yakima Sidewinder for sale at $100 + shipping cost. It ha a few small rust spots, but is in good condition otherwise. I keep tripping over it in our garage!

waynesulak

I was at a Ford dealership for an unrelated reason and decided to try and see what a Transit looked like in person. Walked all over the lot but could not find one. I suppose they had to make space for the 1,000th pickup. Maybe a sales person could have dug one up for me but I didn't want to go that route.

reburns

Two tandems on a Draftmaster

StephenH

Ford, Nissan, Dodge Ram, and I think Chevy all make similar little cargo vans. The dealerships tend to view them as commercial vehicles, so if they have a "fleet sales" department, that's who handles them. But, at the "fleet sales" department, that's the cheapest vehicle they deal with, and if you only want one, they're not too interested in talking to you. Same thing with financing, some places apparently don't consider that a normal "private vehicle" so they're not prepared to finance. Anyway, I checked around at several dealerships that had them in stock, and wound up buying one from a dealer that did NOT have a separate "fleet sales" department, and was able to arrange financing on it. (And that was Mac Haik Ford in De Soto, Texas, if anyone cares.)


On the Ford vans, they are available in long-wheel-base or short-wheel-base, and you want the LWB for a tandem. They are available with windows all around or metal panels, and my preference is windows for visibility while driving or backing. That also means when you start shopping, it's not enough to locate A "Transit Connect", you have to locate the right one- which I did via internet, if I recall right.

ponti33609

Yakima Sidewinder

zonatandem

Recently had to 'ditch' our 97 Honda Accord station wagon with a 175,000 miles on the odo that hauled all our 'stuff' (tandem, single bike + luggage) for our summer trips up to the north country to escape Tucson's 100+ degree warmspells for many years.
Bought the tiny 2016 Honda Fit . . . and yes all our stuff FIT into that tiny car!
As usual removed wheels, pedals and pilot seatpost with stoker bars attached.
Loaded the tandem with back section on the arm rest between front bucket seats . . . upside down! Removed wheels/pedals from single racing bike + fit all our other stuff in the back of that little hatchback!
Bonus: got 48.1 MPG on our 1,500 mile return trip (yes we wander around a bit and are in no hurry).
Where there is a will, there's a way!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

jhazel

I've got a Toyota Matrix with a Saris Bones 3 bike trunk mount. I have carried both tandems (daVinci Joint Venture and Pacific Dualie) on the rack with wheels in place. They extend past the sides of the car but it hasn't been a problem. The rack holds up fine, with no shaking. I've also carried one or the other on my son-in-law's hitch rack and on his roof with a Yakima Sidewinder. The Sidewinder is the biggest pain to load on the top of a minivan so we use the rear racks and let it hang over the sides.

rlp

ATOC (non-pivot) on top of a Toyota Venza. The bike is 30lbs ready to ride so it is pretty easy for us to lift onto the rack without a step stool. We use a cheap saw horse just inside the garage door to block the path so that we don't drive into the garage with the bike on top.