Tandem Tom

At the moment our Co-Motion Speedster is totally apart for maintenance. But I was hthinking that I would like to have a go at setting it up out of sync. Since this would be the first time attempt how much would be advisable?
Thanks!

B. Carfree

We've always gone ninety degrees out of synch. I don't think I've ever seen anyone do other than in-synch or ninety degrees out.

zonatandem

Tom:
Been riding tandems since 1975.
In 1977 we went 90 degrees out of phase (OOP) and continue to do so.
Advantages: There is always a power stroke going over the top.
Easier starts. Less frame flex. Less wear on componentry. Easier climbing. Starts some interesting conversations like 'she is pedaling faster than you!'
Disadvantages: A bit more challenging for both riders to stand simultaneously. In taking an ultra-hard leaning corner there is the remote possibility of scraping a pedal in a full out racing situation. Been told 'it does not look nice'.
Captain leads by 90 degrees. Beware, there is left and right-footed captain leading OOP.
However, if you don't like it, it only takes a couple minutes to change back to in-sync/phase.
Only tool needed is a thin screwdriver to derail the sync chain by pedaling backwards and sort of forcing cross-over chain off the chainring while tandem is parked. Reverse the procedure for put chain back on.
Suggest you try OOP for a couple weeks/a hundred miles or so to get accustomed to it.
We like it . . . obviously!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Tandem Tom

Thanks for the reply Rudy! As for standing at the same time, well that part of riding is still developing. I can stand but my wife is still a bit skittish. We have only been riding for 1 1/2 years so it is time ,this year, to start learning that techinique.

TandemGeek

Here's a link to something I wrote about on the topic about 3 years back and an illustration I made that describes different crank phasing in general terms:
https://tandemgeek.wordpress.com/2010...-out-of-phase/

dwmckee

I think a lot more may pedal slightly out of phase than you think. Two teeth out is hard to notice unless you look carefully. We ride two teeth out with captain leading and love it. Slight oop smooths out the power tremendously but just two teeth means you still are close to the same rhythm. If you want to experiment I suggest you try this first as you get the benefits with none of the coordination issues of being 90 oop.

B. Carfree

You're quite right that I wouldn't notice someone who was two teeth OOP. It would look in synch to the quick look I would give.

We've been pretty happy at 90 out this past quarter century, but maybe we should play around a bit; I don't want to suffer from that old-age disease known as hardening of the attitudes. I guess we'll try stoker leading by a couple of teeth first, since having the stronger rider lead seems to be the most common. (We're the odd-bird large male stoker/small female captain team.)

TandemGeek

.... and not even realize they're out of phase! I've corrected a lot of unintended OOP crank phasing over the years, just about as many where the stoker was unknowingly leading as there were with the captain leading and often times to the team's detriment.

Tandem Tom

TandemGeek,Thanks again for the info. Though my wife could not get the whole thing to print I created a Favorite,Cycling Tandem, folder.
When the weather turns nice this Spring we are going to experiment !!!

dwmckee

You can try captain or stoker leading a little but we found captain leading made a better starting position for the captain when stoker had pedal all of the way down... It just wound up starting better for us that way. By the way, we are in that group that accidentally tried OOP! After we found out we tried in phase and decided oop was clearly way better for smoothing us out.

zonatandem

Our starting to pedal OOP back in '77 was intentional.
It just seemed logical to us and felt better than in-phase.
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

bikeinxs

My wife and I have been riding tandems for 20 years. About 5 or 6 years ago we switched to running about 20 degrees out of sync. It's enough to significantly smooth out the pedal stroke but not so much that you can't both comfortably stand while coasting over a nasty section of road (or just to stretch your legs on a long ride). So you really don't have to go all the way to 90 degrees to get some benefit. Now when we get on someone else's tandem that's in sync it just feels wrong.

I suggest you just experiment with it, try a few different positions since it's pretty easy to set up.