mulveyr 

My 10-year-old and I have done around 100 miles of tandem riding the last couple of weeks. Her reactions:

"Dad, how come EVERYBODY wants to talk to us about the bike when we stop?"
"Is everyone who passes us going to say 'She's not pedaling!'?"
"There's ANOTHER person in a car staring at us!"

On the other hand, when she asks "How fast are we going?" and I say "28 miles an hour!", she says "Let's go faster!" :-)

Spld cyclist

That's just awesome!

StephenH

I heard this story from my stoker, Sharon.
Sharon and friend are out riding through the Texas countryside, when they spot a zebra in a field. So they stop, they ooh and aah and take pictures of the zebra and ride on.
Down the road a ways, a car is driving along, passes Sharon, and pulls up beside the friend and snaps some pictures and takes on off. Why? The friend was on a recumbent.
So Sharon catches back up to the friend, and says, "Isn't that really odd?"
Friend says, "No, happens all the time. I'm the 'zebra'!"

On a unicycle forum, there was a LONG thread of "stupid things people say when they see a unicyclist." Basically, people feel compelled to say something, don't have anything intelligent to say, so they blab out whatever pops into their heads ("You lost your other wheel!", for example).

So, the tandem is the Zebra and it's the unicycle effect.

A kid riding with Dad likely gets a bit more attention as well.

ahultin

Did a short ride this evening with my 15yr old daughter, it sure is an awesome feeling that she is still willing to be seen with dad, let alone on a tandem! Savor evey moment

Astrozombie

I just told the guy "I think you lost your partner" as the backseat was empty

mulveyr 

lol Yep, I'm never really thought of tandems as being particularly unusual, but my daughter made a comment that she'd never actually seen a tandem on the road before we got ours. And after I thought about it for a little while, I realized I hadn't either. I've seen two or three cruiser/rental types on the Erie Canal towpath near our house, but that's been it.

merlinextraligh

Enjoy it while you can. There's about a 90% chance she will not be caught dead on the tandem in 2-3 years.

Philly Tandem

My son loves the attention on the tandem, and especially when we're out riding the triplet. You think you get a lot of stares on a tandem? Try a 10-foot long yellow triplet!

Voodoo76

My 12 year old son and I get the same reaction. Especially from kids his age (many he knows) when we are just cruising the neighborhood. I'm hoping this makes it more likely that I can get him on the back for at least a couple more years.

Did the Wildflower ride in SA this weekend, I put the Garmin from my road bike in the back which added a bit to the fun for him. Kid can really push up a hill!

moonwalker

To all who have kids that will ride.....Treasure every moment! Im am 51 with two daughters 21/18. One just married past Nov. and the other is graduating H.S. this year. Seems like yesterday we were bringing them home from hospital.

rdtompki

I'm hoping I can get my grandsons on the tandem occasionally. Oldest is 10, younger is 5 (and the Bostonian, soon moving to California) is 1.5. The Western version of the family is doing a 30 mile organized ride this Saturday - good intro for my grandsons to the joys of tandeming.

mulveyr 

There have definitely been a few times going up hills when I have offhandedly said "Wow, this hill seems steeper than the last time, I wonder why?" only to have my stoker stop daydreaming and put a lot more ooomph into her stroke. ;-)

mulveyr 

We're good up to around 25 miles at this point before my daughter starts mentioning that her saddle is very thin and very hard. ;-) Unfortunately we still have to have the seatpost all the way in to fit her correctly, so a suspension post isn't an option yet because of the additional length. I'm thinking I may see what I can dig up in a sprung saddle to help cut down on the harshness of her ride.

mulveyr 

Isn't it amazing? I started touring with my son across NY when he was 8 - he's 12 now. But looking back at the pictures of him it's amazing how TINY he was just a couple short years ago.