Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
No obstacle at all for either person standing or starting and stopping. We have the width set so her hands just touch my upper thigh when she's down on them. Narrow as possible. One of the good things about starting with a plain piece of tube is that I could cut it to the exact length needed.
They are a bit of an obstacle if the captain mounts by swinging a leg over his saddle, which is what I do. I'm so short legged and stiff in the hip joints that Stoker has to guide my foot a little. We try to do that as subtly as possible to spare Captain embarrassment.
If Captain mounts by swinging a foot over the top tube, they're no obstacle. They're no obstacle for Stoker, being much like a cowhorn.
Picturing your stoker helping your foot over her handlebars brings home the trust between captain and stoker!
I mount by swinging foot in front of captain's bars. Knee is bent and travels over the captain's stem. This allows mounting easily without having to lift the foot high enough to clear the top tube. My bars are as low as the saddle, as narrow as the stoker's bars, and I can see them easily while swinging my leg over. I have mounted swinging over the stoker's bars before and while I was successful, thoughts of getting hung up and flopping over the bike flashed through my head.
Recently I have been working on hip flexibility and recommend it highly. Tight hips were effecting me off the bike as well as on it.