bobthib

I tell my wife the same thing.

Our tandem is a Lamborghini. She likes to tell people "the engine is in the rear in a Lamborghini."

alanknm

When my wife and I were in Ireland last summer we saw a tour group of about 30 tandems go roaring by us like a freight train and in every case, the male was in the front. While the elevations in the mountains there aren't that high, the slopes are quite steep in a lot of places so placing the heavier rider near the center of gravity of the bike makes a lot of sense.

fietsbob

Enter the 'Counterpoint' stoker is in a recumbent seat in the front .
steering, etc., is an upright diamond frame , in the center - ,back.

May not resolve the drool-slobber problem that way though.
but the lounge chair position may be compensation..

ScottStr

I always thought the men convinced less technical women that they were drafting in the back seat, so they wouldn't have to work as hard.

jandnvh

For us it's real simple. My wife never learned to ride a bicycle. She likes the tandem though

waldowales

Men tend to get distracted watching a fit woman in form-fitting clothes, so they put them in the back.

ModeratedUser150120149

As a very short TV actor who wore glasses for his part would say: "Very Interesting".

cranky old dude

Back in the "Old Days" when one could steer a tandem from both the front and the back like this nice old Colson...

https://www.nostalgic.net/pictures/bicycle166/526.htm

......the Gents would proudly ride down the street their sweetheart up in front.

zonatandem

Have seen very few tandems with female as pilot and male as stoker (except fo blind guys).
Have seen a couple tandem duos that were both female and a few that were both male.
Usually the male is the stronger/taller/heavier rider and the female is smaller/lighter (and sometimes stronger) rider.
Production tandems are 'generally' built for taller person up front . . . 'generally' with couples the male is talle/heavierr than the female. That's why, 'generally', male pilots a tandem.
Have ridden singles and tandems for the past 40 years. Yes, there a few very fast ladies that when riding a sngle don't mind at all doing their share of pulling the paceline!

DX-MAN

This; can't tell you how many times I've enjoyed the thought of being stoker on a tandem with Halle Berry.

ncbikers

Not always the way it was.

zonatandem

In case of the 2 old tandems above, the 'steersman' sat in the back . . .

Terex

Until 1896, it appears from the following article that all tandems were built with the drop frame portion of the bike in front, and that moving the woman (or smaller rider) to the back was viewed as revolutionary. And the weight of this tandem was less than 40 pounds! You have to scroll down a bit to find reference to the tandem.

https://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive...D9405B8685F0D3