Originally Posted by
Monoborracho
I recently asked a bunch of tandem riders what sort of top speed they had hit. The answers ranged from 50 to 63 mph. I asked them their top comfort level and most of them said "20's".
High speed riding is akin to riding a pace line IMHO. It just a thrill/risk/reward thing largely controlled by probabilities and NOT by the people who are doing the riding.
Thing I find about Tandems- is that they take a different line to solos on corners. On the offroad organised rides we have done- with a mixture of wide trail and single track- It is surprising how many solo's put themselves in the wrong place once we have committed ourselves. Doesn't matter what speed- high or low- the other riders don't make that mistake twice.
But comfort speed for us is as fast as we can get it without the bars trying to be wrenched out of the pilots hands. With Stuart on the front- that speed is easily 10mph higher than with me attempting to steer it.