Murrays

What advice can you experienced tandemists give on computers for stokers? Which brands have long enough wires to reach the rear wheel? Is splicing the wires the best option?

Thanks
-murray

TandemGeek

In the realm of $28 - $38 solutions...

Cateye offers the MT300 Mity 'somethingorother' with a super-long (aka, stoker-length) signal wire that some of the tandem speciality dealers offer, e.g., www.gtgtandems.com in New York has carried them in the past and I suspect others can also get them.

SigmaSports also offers a rear wheel length signal wire and may even offer a super-long pick up wire as well. Our tandems have small front-ends and it's an easy run from the stoker bars to the upper leg of the front fork which is where I've run at least one installation. Again, someone like Mel at www.TandemsEast.com, Jack at www.TandemsLtd.com, or Mark at www.PrecisionTandems.com would most likely have these and any other off-the-shelf models that would work without resorting to splicing wires. The photos on the upper 1/2 of the web page linked off this URL https://home.att.net/~thetandemlink/a.../computer.html
depict a signal wire run from the stoker bars to the front fork. Note: The photo on the lower 1/2 of the page is from a rear-wheel / spliced-wire installation using both a speed and cadence sensor.

I've got an old (crappy) article on how to go about the splicing approach related to the white/violet colored tandem depicted in the first web page that uses a SigmaSports computer (which use signal wires that are relatively easy to splice) here:
https://home.att.net/~mark.livingood/...es/bc1200.html

If you do go the splice route, be very attentive to making good soldered connections that are spaced out a few mm, use shrink wrap over each wire and then another over both and seal the ends with a dab of silicone caulk or superglue to ensure you don't lose your signal when it's wet. I also don't recommend slaving the stoker's computer off the splice into the captain's pick-up wires in that you're far more likely to lose both computers vs just one if anything happens to the magnet, pick-up, or signal wires. Note: These are all personal lessons learned the hard way from several years ago.

The wireless options (any) are a nice way to go for the captain when used in combination with a front fork mounted stoker pickup just because it eliminates one wire. The wireless options for the stokers are at present pretty pricey, e.g., Cateye's Double Wireless w/o HRM at ~$140 all the way up to the Polar S720i HRM/Computers which can be set-up to transmit from the rear wheel (seat or chain stay) to the stoker's bars.

galen_52657

Getting from the rear wheel to the stocker's bars should not be a problem. Getting to the captain's bars might take splicing to wire sets together. Best option would be go wireless and put it any place you want.