Originally Posted by
B. Carfree
+1 on Carbonfiberboy's tandem recommendation. My wife and I have been touring on and off road on our tandem since '89 (no, not continuously, but I wish). It is much better for us since I tend to ride quite a bit faster than she does.On the tandem I don't have to take naps at the tops of all the passes. We were definitely able to ride more miles per day on the tandem than we ever would have on half-bikes. Also, people just tend to be friendlier to you when you are on a tandem.
We made sure to purchase a tandem built so that either one of us could captain. I rarely get to ride up front; I'm the designated motor. The one time I remember being captain for an extended period was when our headset totally failed along the yellowhead hwy. We never had any cadence compatibility issues, but did have to work out the bike angle issue. It turns out one of us preferred to have the bike vertical and the other wanted it perpendicular to the road surface. We also found it was better for us to have the stoker control the shifting and drag brake. Others do it differently, but that works for us.
We had an issue with rocking the bike while standing. I wanted to rock it quite a bit, like my single. She wanted it to stay still. We settled on a compromise, only rocking it a tiny bit. I now prefer that. She was right as usual.
Cadence preference is perhaps not as big a deal as pedaling style. We both prefer to pedal circles and do it about the same. But when one of us drags during part of the stroke, it's very noticeable to the other. I would have trouble riding with a masher who rocked their shoulders.