Stoker Handlebar options
05-16-08, 07:59 PM
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Stoker Handlebar options
Purchased a nice used Santana last summer when my wife was about 5 months pregnant. We had been looking for a tandem for quite awhile and even though we knew we would have to wait until this year to ride it, I went ahead and snagged it since it was exactly what we were looking for. It has been painful watching it hang on the wall in the garage all this time - I want to take it out!
My wife and I have gone on a couple of short, easy rides on our singles this spring and she is having wrist/shoulder issues. She has a Bianchi road bike that although it doesn't put her in a "racing aggressive" position, it does put quite a bit of her weight on her wrists even when on the hoods.
So as we look to starting to ride our tandem, I'm wondering what options are out there in the handlebar world that will put her in a more upright position and secondarily give her more hand positions?
I'll preface that question by saying that we currently have cowhorn bars on it and we haven't tried them out yet and they may be just fine. But what should I consider replacing them with if she needs something different?
I have some initial thoughts, but want to hear what you all suggest...thanks in advance!
My wife and I have gone on a couple of short, easy rides on our singles this spring and she is having wrist/shoulder issues. She has a Bianchi road bike that although it doesn't put her in a "racing aggressive" position, it does put quite a bit of her weight on her wrists even when on the hoods.
So as we look to starting to ride our tandem, I'm wondering what options are out there in the handlebar world that will put her in a more upright position and secondarily give her more hand positions?
I'll preface that question by saying that we currently have cowhorn bars on it and we haven't tried them out yet and they may be just fine. But what should I consider replacing them with if she needs something different?
I have some initial thoughts, but want to hear what you all suggest...thanks in advance!
05-17-08, 05:16 PM
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Give the cowhorns a few rides. Pam found that she preferred them over the drop bars on our bike when we purchased it.
Without knowing how your stoker compartment fits, I'll go out on a limb and say that tandems generally end up with a little more upright riding position for the stoker than they might have on their singles.
Without knowing how your stoker compartment fits, I'll go out on a limb and say that tandems generally end up with a little more upright riding position for the stoker than they might have on their singles.
05-18-08, 02:50 PM
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We have this exact same situation (well, the pregnancy was further back) right down to the Bianchi. We have gone through a lot to get the bars higher up. I will try to take a photo and post it, but the bottom line is : adjustable stoker stem holding a regular stem (with a very high angle), and then stoker (cow?) bars.
05-18-08, 05:54 PM
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These are what my wife has Profile Design Stoker
__________________
It may not be fancy but it gets me were I need to go.
https://www.jtgraphics.net/cyclist_bicycles.htm
It may not be fancy but it gets me were I need to go.
https://www.jtgraphics.net/cyclist_bicycles.htm
05-19-08, 02:01 PM
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Yep - took it for a 10 mile spin this weekend and she did feel more upright than on her Bianchi. Since she rides so infrequently, we're going to have to ride the tandem awhile before I pull the trigger on any changes...want to make sure the aches/pains etc that might develop are truly from a positioning issue rather than just a "we're riding more" issue.
She did have her hands go to sleep on her which she quickly realized was because she hadn't changed position on the bars the entire ride...so that tells me right there we will have a learning curve on a number of different fronts as we put the initial miles in.
The good news is that she still really enjoyed the experience, so the results of our ride 2 years ago on a borrowed tandem that led us to make the purchase was duplicated!
We are taking it to Chicago this weekend to "Bike the Drive" and will get some additional miles in there...anyone else going?
She did have her hands go to sleep on her which she quickly realized was because she hadn't changed position on the bars the entire ride...so that tells me right there we will have a learning curve on a number of different fronts as we put the initial miles in.
The good news is that she still really enjoyed the experience, so the results of our ride 2 years ago on a borrowed tandem that led us to make the purchase was duplicated!
We are taking it to Chicago this weekend to "Bike the Drive" and will get some additional miles in there...anyone else going?
