Mayonnaise

I know it seems goofy but my wife works downtown and I want to pick her up from work and ride home. It's 20 miles one way. I'm trying to figure out how to get the bike downtown.

We have a Metra commuter train that allows bikes but I'm not sure I can get the tandem through the door and into the seating compartment (the turn might be too tight).

I'm kinda left with riding the bike down alone and picking her up, which I don't mind doing.

Anyone ever ride a tandem alone for 20 miles?

CliffordK

About 16 miles.

I think it was easier going solo than with the kid I eventually picked up.

Only issue I had was that I had a lumpy tire on the rear. It was ok with 2 riders, but it bounced for the whole ride solo.

geranimo57

I've ridden our Burley solo a few times that distance. Only issue is bumpy roads the back tends to bounce and feels very loose.

Scraper

Nope, but a friend of mine did. When he bought his, realized he couldn't haul it home, so rode it about 30 miles from the dealer to home. And through busy parts of town to boot. Said he got lots of stares and comments "she fell off!"

Maybe be get a blow up doll...

waynesulak

I often ride our tandems alone when testing them out. Usually not long rides but on a well traveled road. Once at a stop sign a smart guy rolled down his window and said "you are missing someone", and I replied smiling that it looked like he was missing six people. He got the joke and we both laughed.

mrchaotica

Lift the front wheel and roll it onto the train vertically.

Also, your plan sounds perfectly reasonable to me, as long as you don't mind being "that weird guy who rides a tandem by himself."

Mayonnaise

hahahahahahaha. that's it, that's it. that's it

oldacura

I'd say that the biggest risk is that without a stoker, the rear brake is almost worthless.

CliffordK

You could mash on the front brakes pretty hard without flipping the bike... and if you did manage to flip over the bars... it would make for a spectacular YouTube video

Darth Lefty 

I haven't ridden it any further than needed to do test rides for shifters and brakes... but it was fine for that and I don't see why not unless you feel embarrassed. Maybe get a science-class skeleton and hook it up so it pedals.

CliffordK

When I was ferrying my bike, I offered some people a lift, but they didn't accept

Paul J

We took our tandem on PATCO which is the regional line between Philadelphia and New Jersey and had no problem getting it on the train. We took it in at an angle forward into the car and then rolled it back out of the doorway. The worst part we experienced was taking it down the two flights of stairs which included a 180 turn. I did get a few weird looks and a huff from the snazzily dressed business lady that got on just behind me because I took 60 seconds of her precious time doing the two-point turn.

rlp

I used to drop my daughter at school and ride about 4 miles to work and back to pick her up. No issues and definitely raised her "cool Level" at school.

zonatandem

Used to sell/assemble/test ride tandems solo. Not a p[roblem.
Have ridden tandem solo up Mingus Mountain (Jerome, AZ) and passed a guy on a single. When I said 'on your left' he looked over and his eyes really got big!
Perfectly do-able.

bwebel

I do about 10 miles on our triplet solo after dropping the kids off at school. People notice you, and you will hear the same comment about "losing somebody" ad infinitum, but otherwise, I've never had any particular problems. The (lack of) rear braking is the biggest handling difference, but it's not a big deal.

B. Carfree

Decades ago, I set out on a one-speed tandem on a double century ride. Since I didn't have a stoker, I put a sign on the rear that said "SAG Wagon". Sure enough, about 25 miles in I came upon a group that had crashed and one bike was unrideable so I got my stoker.

prathmann

Our tandem served as our commute vehicle while in grad school so I'd fairly frequently end up riding it solo if I wanted to do any errands during the day. I also took it on a few club rides solo when there were some particularly steep hills and my single bike didn't have the right gearing for them. Later the bike became my commute vehicle with our daughter as stoker with a kid-back arrangement where I'd take her to daycare/kindergarten/grade school, drop her off and ride solo the rest of the way to work. Only modification made for riding solo was that back in the days of toe clips the unused stoker clips would tend to hit the ground on turns so I used a couple bungee cords to connect the front pedals to the rear ones and keep them upright.

DCwom

You should check with the metro about rules on tandems, I think you might find they are not allowed, I know they aren't on NJ Transit even though singles are allowed (tandem discimination ). However the conductor may allow you to bring one on anyway, especially if its not crowded.

Philly Tandem

Whoa, @bwebel is alive! Good to "see" you :-) Riding a triple solo is definitely a challenge for anything over a short ride, for sure. On our last tour on our triple, I rode it a few blocks by myself, but with rear panniers on it. Felt really squirrelly. I thought it would be better with the bags on, with the theory that they were "ballast" for the rear. But because they were so far back it made for an interesting ride.

This afternoon I'll be picking my son up from school on our tandem, so I'll be riding it sans stoker one-way today. We have both a Santana and a Co-Motion tandem, and I find that the Co-Motion is much easier to ride solo than the Santana (the bikes are otherwise identical). Once I get riding it solo, I tend to forget I'm on a tandem.

prathmann

I've found the same to be true of our regular (2 person) tandem. It rides fine solo if it's either unloaded or just has front panniers/handlebar bag. But if it has rear panniers with any significant load it feels very unstable when riding solo.

Mayonnaise

I'm super chilly with all the conductors on Metra. I've been using the trains for years and am always respectful and polite. The train I would take would be empty because it's coming into Chicago at rush hour to fill up passengers going home. If I can make that turn from the door to the seating compartment I'm golden. Going to bring a measuring tape next ride.

On another note. The bike shop was kind enough to let me participate in the build of our new tandem. I have a bunch of photos and want to post them here, but I'd like them in a large format. I've followed the instructions posted concerning the use of FLKR but can't seem to make it work. Any advice?

Darth Lefty 

Maybe you could try it from the middle seat? :-D

Mayonnaise

Spontaneously, I took out the tandem solo and waited for approaching Metra train. I was half expecting for them to take one look at the bike and me and say no way. Instead they couldn't have been nicer. Even though the bike is almost 8 feet long, I managed it into the seating compartment quite easily. I rode about 3 miles solo through downtown Chicago. Got a few comments, but it's Chicago, people are used to seeing curiosities on the streets.

All and all, very positive. Will repeat.

reiker

When I've ridden solo on our 1979 Santana, it feels very tippy, but it works.

qspencer

We used to sometimes take the kids to school on our tandems, about 4 miles each way. After doing it a couple of times, I noticed that we were faster with no stokers than with the kids on them.