witgen01

Yesterday when I was at the bike shop I found a bull horn bar on clearance (We have a Cannodale mtb that we ride on and off road.). So being the thoughtful captain I pick it up and installed it last night before our ride. Well when the stoker came out to mount up, she wasnt to happy. I thought they would give her more hand holds to help her hands from going numb. Well after the ride I reinstalled her flat bar again, lesson learned dont mess with the stoker.
PS. It was a quite 20 miles last night.

DubT

You made a simple mistake, you did not communicate with her. You might have said, Honey would you like to try a new bar, see what I found on clearance at the LBS, it would give you more hand positions. What do you think?

This is from someone who has been married almost 50 years. LOL

diabloridr

Don't try and fix problems that don't exist.

TandemGeek

I've learned to NEVER mess with the stoker's position without consulting the stoker... no matter how minor that adjustment may be.

I'm still in the dog house for selling our first Ventana ECdM ('97) and replacing with a newer model ('02) that was built around the exact same geometry and using a nearly identical (ergonomically speaking) build because the newer Ventana has never "felt right" to my dear Debbie.

Of course, to be honest, I think I'm double-dog housed because she really misses the '98 Cannondale MT3000 that I replaced with the NOS '97 Ventana.

In many respects, I'm glad that she takes that much interest and is that in tune with her fit.

SteamingAlong

So, to recap. You have a set of lightly used bullhorns for sale?

fasthair

You forgot.... Cheap

fasthair

witgen01

Boy I wont make that mistake again. I was allowed in the house last night, but I hid the bull horns. She rode the tandem to work with me today with the flat bar back on and was all smiles. Life is good again.

JamieElenbaas

OP,

Hmmm... wonder how you'd feel if you came out and found that she had decided to change your bars. Can't imagine you'd be too pleased yourself.

witgen01

I was looking at it as a trial and error to help with numb hands. The error was me not asking before installing. Hope my error help some other captain to not assume what stoker may like or dislike. Happy peddling

zonatandem

If stoker wants something changed she'll let you know . . .
Now go out and get her a nice bouquet of flowers!

Dean V

To be the odd one out here, I do that sort of thing all the time. It is part of my on going development/fiddling policy. If it works out favorably, great. If not, then I just change it back. Obviously wouldn't change bars or saddle or similar and go out for a 100 miles to test it. Just a short ride for an hour or so initially. One saddle I tried for my stoker we only got as far as the end of the driveway before it was rejected.

bgross

There's an old saying "It's easier to get forgiveness than permission."
Bovine excrement!

However difficult it is to get permission (especially when the answer is no), forgiveness takes even longer.

Flowers sometimes help.

StanleyJ

Tut-tut-tut. Stoker is always​ right.

p2templin

I had an alternate struggle with the stoker setup this week. Stoker pedals developed an awful ticking sound, and her "backup" pedals are cracked (long story). After hearing me talk about them, she'd wanted Keo Blade pedals. As she rides with pedal extenders (which can't be removed), I was afraid to commit a set of Blades if they were too stiff for her to unclip.

Had a great ride this morning, 27 miles, plus an optional 5 mile extension. Stopped after the 27 miles, swapped pedals, and she tried the Blades with plenty of clip/unclip. Stoker likes them, and said "Mine!" - I guess I'll have to buy my own then!

riding_blind

Lol I wish it was a stoker thing that would make my life a lot easier. I'm the stoker. The only reason I don't captain is because a blind captain wouldn't work out to well. That said I am also the one who does all maintenance and adjustments on the Bike. It's most definitely a wife thing not a stoker thing lol.

PMK

TG, is it possible that your stoker, and my stoker are communicating without us knowing...Helping someone else on this forum, I currently have a 98 MT3000 sitting here...not our bike, but have heard again how awesome ours was, and it didn't even properly fit my stoker.

Maybe Alex's, Kim is involved and a ring leader.

Some bikes she happily forgets, others probably never should have been sold, even though, out of their mouth she would say we have too many bikes.

Have Fun

PK

Siu Blue Wind

You are awesome!!

TandemGeek

No, I think it's more basic than that. The Cannondales are simply smaller bikes that sit lower to the ground and feel a lot more solid than the bikes most of us have moved to. Even though the C'dale beat the heck out of Debbie's back, her off-road comfort zone was baselined on that bike and the combination of the more aggressive tandem frame designs and I suspect our willingness to take advantage of that added capability has caused us to move to a level of off-road riding style that's well outside their baseline comfort zones.

Just a thought, having thought about it a bit.

chris ss

Uhhh ... yeah.
Most of us went there at one point or another, and I'd venture to say most of us only been there ONCE having come back a lil worse but a lil wiser for the wear.

Happy wife makes for a happy life.
If mama ain't happy, ain't NObody gonna be happy.

You can say it a million ways but ... it is, what it is.
Hoping you've got yourself outta the dog house by now!