Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
As post 12 has discovered, most modern tandems come in sizes, usually only 3, small, medium, and large. They also come in combinations of those sizes for both captain and stoker. Ours is a medium-small. We both have standover, but neither of us can reach the ground sitting on the saddle, which is normal. We both have standover because the straight top tube slants down toward the rear of the bike because it's a medium-small. However most boob tubes are level and thus a shorter stoker with shorter cranks than captain's will find their toes further off the ground than captain's. That's normal.
To be clear, I am not talking about being able to put my foot on the ground while stopped and still seated in the saddle. My wife doesn’t have her bikes set up that way either. I’m talking about being able to straddle the bike at a standstill with both feet flat on the ground.
Actually in the Proper Method, captain mounts first. Stoker mounting first makes no sense unless the captain can mount by swinging a leg over the bars, even then it's questionable. Captain steadies the bike while stoker mounts cowboy style from the pedal, not the ground. Stoker of course clips in first while captain holds the brakes on to make that easier. Stoker offers the captain a pedal, captain clips into it, releases the brakes, and they're off.
Who said anything like the stoker mounting first? That would be as stupid as you have pointed out. Give the rest of use some credit, ‘k?
As to mounting “cowboy style” from the pedal, that’s a whole lot harder to do with clipless pedals. Clipless, especially mountain clipless, have a pretty small platform which makes slipping off the pedal more likely. If the stoker clips that foot in, it’s in a rather awkward position as well. I’ve seen some videos of “The Proper Method” and in none of them does the stoker mount “cowboy style”. That’s mostly because the bikes are the proper size for the stoker and the stoker swings their leg over the bike, straddles the bike, and
then puts their feet on the pedals.
Finally, you could give the courtesy of either quoting or acknowledging me by either my Bike Forum name or my name rather than just as “Post 12”. Your post is also a bit condescending. I’m not new to the bicycle game nor to tandeming. I know how to size bikes and how to size tandems. The Cannondale (from 2010) we have now is the only tandem I’ve seen that has this kind of size difference. To bad more of them aren’t available.