Have had several tandem crashes/near crashes at speed, in our decades of riding as a duo.
Front tire blowout at just over 30mph coming down an incline. Pilot depends on relfex (experience?) . . . do NOT touch the front brake, sit up to catch wind to slow bike, then tap rear brake ever so lightly. Came to a full stop. It had been a bit like riding a bronco, but survived fine. Rim and tire were fine, put in new tube and finished ride with a very shook up stoker (thanks Kay!).
Other downhill 30+ mph descent in tuck/coasting mode. Inexplicably drive chain bounced from small cog to between chainstay and rear dropout. Result: instantaneous stop! Pilot does his paratrooper roll over the bars (thinking: 'whathehell?') . . . again reflex. Stoker is disadvantaged on a tandem and cannot roll over her bars and goes down with the bike.
Assessed bodies. No broken bones, but road rash for both: pilot huge hematoma on the hip, stoker massive roadrash head to ankle with a black eye. Undoubtedly helmet saved her from a concussion. Tandem: pretzled front wheel . . . makes sense, sudden stop and something had to give . . it did.
Got ride home from a passing motorist who knew us and saw it happen. He thought it was 'spectacular'.
Replaced front wheel and next weekend we were pedaling a 200-mile 3-day loop by the Grand Canyon's south rim; hey, we had planned the trip and got out there and did it. Got some inquisitve looks along the way, especially with a little guy on the front of the tandem that seemingly was a 'wife beater' . . . just look at that poor girl! Funny, at Desert View Overlook we stopped for a break, and a British tourist couple saw us and asked Kay: "Say luv, did you fall off your bicycle?" It made our day!
Hit twice on tandem by motor vehicles. One a slow speed crash by a new 17 year old driver stopping at a stop sign as we were making left turn coming through the intersection. He stopped, looked both ways and stepped on the gas! Of course tandems are invisible! Pilot swerved away while stoker still had her hand out signaling a left turn; she pushed on the hood . . . (supergirl?). No broken bones but lots of collateral damage. $2,200 worth (and that was back in 1978).
Hit by a pickup truck just a couple years ago. Riding at noontime, nice AZ sunny day on a quiet frontage road next to I-10, and we get struck from behind. Foldable (lucky) side mirror hits Kay in the back and truck is 1/4-inch from pilot's fingertips. Again reflex; instinct would say dive away to the right. But there was a big ditch, so held my line. Did not go down.
Truck eventually stopped and driver in his 70s (yeah about Rudy's age) claims he did not see us. Heck it was Halloween and we were wearing a bright orange fade Co-Motion jersey . . .what's not to see? Driver had restricted license and glaucoma and of course, NO car insurance.
No damage to the tandem and Kay got hauled off in an ambulance (at pilot's insistence) and checked out at the hospital where she was pronounced as severely bruised, but OK.
Rear tire blowouts are easier to handle (done a couple) than front blowouts as it does not affect steering.
When crashing, keep your cool, don't tighten grip on handlebars, relax (!) and react. Crashing and rolling over the bars for pilot is normally best. Stoker . . . sorry dear, you're stuck and go down with the bike.
While you're probably shaking your heads about these 'unlucky tandemers', luck only plays a small part in surviving these thing
While we no longer do 50+ mph descents, we admit have done quite a few in our younger days . . . wheeeee!
There is a trade-off between risk/speed/safety; and no matter what, stuff's gonna happen.
After 200,000+ miles of riding TWOgether, we're amazed we're still alive and well . . . heck, if you do nothing, you'll die anyway!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem