zonatandem

Agree with TG that the Kuwahara tandem is a far cry from now-day tandems. The Kuwa was a nice/good tandem package in its day but design/tubing/components have changed drastically.
Agree with Dave B. that OS tubing, longer stoker compartments and more tandem specific components have greatly enhanced tandem usage/sales.
Believe that the tandem that won PBP was an old Rene Herse.
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

TandemGeek

Jan Heine and Jaye Haworth in '03 to be specific, both are very accomplished randonneurs among other cycling pursuits. So as not to diminish their accomplishment, they were the first place mixed team and the second place team overall.

Photo and links here from a previous post:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...an#post2003618

LWaB

<pedant mode>
It was a Herse but PBP isn't a race, so Jaye Hayworth and Jan Heine didn't win, just finished first. In any case, a male/male tandem finished before them but they were the first mixed team to finish (in record time).
</pedant mode>

https://www.rusa.org/newsletter/06-04-07.html

Edit: Too slow for TandemGeek

zonatandem

We've attended many events that were 'not a race' . . . PBP is an endurance event. All who finish are winners!

mrfish

Just coming back from a 70-odd mile charity ride (the short route) round the hills of the cotswolds. I have to report back on the exploits of my friend Digby and wife Katy. They did the longer ride of 102 miles and 2500 metres of nasty climbs in 6h 13, beating many many road racers. I was seriously impressed with the way they danced up the hills and after starting with me dropped me and many others.

Their tandem is a knackered old Peugeot with downtube friction shifting, brake cables coming out of the top of the levers, 15 gears and 1" road tyres with tread. The moral of the story is that fitness beats flash bikes hollow so it's not worth stressing too much about the bike. Although that's not stopped me so far ;-)

NewbieIATandem

Back on topic. I say go for it. If you think a very short stoker compartment and shorter wheelbase will enhance your tandem experience and have the money to experiment, go for it.

If you want really fast with quick handling and your stoker agrees, than maybe a super short wheelbase is how you need to configure your tandem. If however your stoker is not in agreement, it would be a bad move.

My stoker on our first tandem was hitting her knees on the handlebars. Could we maybe have adjusted it differently? Maybe, but the stoker compartment was small. Buying a better tandem, one with room for both her and myself has made our tandem experience much better. We don't even own singles right now so making our tandem fit our bodies and riding styles makes the most sense in the equation. We go on leisurely rides of FAR LESS than 100 miles, our speeds right now flirt with 13 mph on the flats. We are enjoying being Twogether and the handling of our "long tandem" is just fine.

In other words, this is a hobby for us, not a sport. So our tandem fits that equation for us.

cat0020

My SO and I have ridden regular tandems, but settled on a semi-recumbent tandem since March this year.
I'm 5'10" and she's 4'11", on this tandem we could swap between captn and stoker, with enough tools even on a ride.

[img]https://www.ilovebent.com/pic/output/_MG_0003.jpg[/img]

The overall length of the semi-recumbent tandem is shortter than a regular tandem, since the stoker's boomtube bottom bracket is adjustable, so is the overall length of the tandem itself.

frameteam2003

The three tandems we have are as:
Bilenky--------68" (axle to axle)--27"(CTC) stroker TT
1936 Russ-----64" (ATA)---------21"(CTC)
1950 schwinn--62"(ATA)----------21"
The schwinns first built about 1938 were listed as short coupled tandems,Claud butler also built tandems alone this design.
The Russ is a double gents racing frame(not to be confused with a track racer)more alone the lines of a club racer
the wife likes the Bilenky the best--it is the newest of out bikes and the easest to ride
But the hardest to handle when off the bike.

DBC Steve

Photo of Peter's 1968 Olympics tandem attached. Dunlap? Yep -- we enjoyed it from the deck of Steady Eddy's in Winters, coffee drinks in hand. No amount of coaxing in advance could convince my stoker, but a spin back to our place on Road 95 (and a view of those great Dunlap tandem shots) convinced her that we gotta try TT sometime soon. We will do Dunlap next year, but may try the DBC Wednesday night time trials on Putah Creek Road sometime this summer. Not all that great for a tandem -- it is an out and back course, meaning that you have to take a sharp 180 in the middle of PCR after five miles. Still, price is right (free) and it would be fun. It also starts 4 miles from home.

This thread also mentioned a Kuwahara several times. I took a nice pic of one at Folsom Lake a few months ago -- wild paint job, nice bike.

zonatandem

The Kuwahara's did have an eye-appealing paint scheme. Most tandems at that time were single color or with a contrasting color panel. None of the fancy fade schemes that abound now.
Have seen primarily white, but also one blue, Kuwa and they had a nice wide band of rainbow colors to contrast the paint job.
Talking about Olympic tandems: our friend and now retired custom framebuilder Colin Laing, built several tandems for the Russian Olympic team . . . He built many tandems/singles as what he called 'brown wrappers' . . . no decals. Even had one of his 'brown wrappers' ridden to a win in the Tour de France.
If someone needs/wants a short wheelbased tandem, custom will be the logical choice.

TandemGeek

Indeed they did. I had a Kuwahara Cougar rigid mountain bike that looked sensational... unfortunately the Ishiwata triple butted tubing and lugged construction added up to a 30lb beast of a bike. Never mind the biopace chainrings and U-brake: what WERE they thinking!

lhbernhardt

My Kuwie tandem was from before they started doing the fancy paint jobs. It's your basic medium blue. The Subaru WRX blue touchup paint is a pretty good match. I've never been tempted to upgrade to a "current design;" I'd just get caught up in this vicious circle of materialism, and all the tandems today look the same anyway. Somebody's got to have something that looks a little different.

Anyway, I'm glad to see there's agreement that the longer stoker compartment is one of the keys to greater tandem popularity, and that older tandem designs are not the limiting factor in how a team performs.

I don't think I'd ever try building a really short tandem; as I said, I was interested in a thought experiment, or to see if any of you experts out there had ever seen a tandem as short as I'd envisaged.

- L.

Hermes

The Dunlap TT was the best run race, course and facilities this year. It was a lot of fun and we will definitely be back next year.

DBC Steve

Here it is! Note also OOP and those all-important fenders.