elbows

My fiancee and I bought a used Burley Samba this weekend. Today we rode it to work, and along the way hit a huge pothole, which trashed the front wheel and broke a spoke in the rear.

We were going under an overpass at the time, so the road was in shadow and I couldn't see the pothole until the last second. On a single bike I might have been able to swerve around it or, failing that, do a little hop to unweight the bike as I hit it, but I can't do either of those on a tandem.

Obviously the best strategy is to avoid potholes, but given the sorry state of the roads around here (Boston), that's not always an option ;-)
What do you do when a huge pothole sneaks up on you and there's no time to avoid it?

stapfam

Be prepared for them by having a strong set of wheels. One of the base rules of tandems is that they are heavy on wheels. I am over the top on my mountain Tandem but perhaps others can advise on the quality and strength required for road use.

TandemGeek

Unless you and your stoker can learn how to bunny hop the tandem -- it can be done -- you do your best to pull-up and unweight the front wheel to minimize the damage and to mitigate a crash, then cringe when the rear wheel hits.

zonatandem

. . . pick another route?

NewbieIATandem

Produce a scathing expose on the corruption inherent in the government which is siphoning money off of road repair projects into the pockets of politicians living high on the hog from the pork barrel spending of the federal government and pirate the airwaves and run the damning evidence for 24 hours straight while holed up in the television station you took over in a bloodless power struggle gaining a foothold with the resistance ...

Or maybe you could write an irate letter to the paper.

masiman

All your pothole money for the next 30 years went to paying for the tunnel .

gregm

Your local municipality may reimburse you for damage. I have seen this happen for automobile wheel damage. You never know.

Good luck!

-Greg

lmzimmer

Tandems because of their longer lenths and different handling require increased vigilance for potholes, and road hazards in general- you will develop this rapidly because of experiences such as this. Learn to look further down the road for glass, trash and poor road surface. Keep tires well inflated as well to avoid pinch flats- Good luck - MZ

bidaci

Seems to be a lot more potholes around then in years past. Once you see a pothole and realize you cannot avoid it, commit to riding through it. The last thing you need is to get crossed up going through a deep or long pothole.

Retro Grouch 

You forgot to say "Bump."

TandemGeek

No, not really... It would just be a distraction that hindered our reaction time under the conditions as described.

Like most good captains, when I see a little unavoidable "bump" in the road ahead it gets called out. However, when we're riding on or off-road and Debbie feels the pedal pressure change and sees my body move suddenly and assertively -- often times accompanied by an 'expletive deleted' -- she knows it's time to get her weight off the saddle.

I suspect it's mostly the off-road tandem riding that has allowed us to hone these particular, non-verbal cues and responses... not to mention a variety of other tandem handling skills or self-preservation manuevers that can't be safety experienced on asphalt. Being on asphalt just means there's no fat rear tire or 4" of rear suspension travel to mitigate the "sting"... all the more reason for her to rely on the automatic and immediate tactile and visual cues, as well as verbal warnings that may come a nono-second later.

YRMV.

Michel Gagnon

I never say "Bump".

Otherwise, I would have to say it every 5-10 seconds.