ncbikers

We are thinking about getting a tandem and wondered how many computer displays people use? Does the stoker need/use a computer display? Do you use a cadence counter? Who makes a computer with one set of sensors and 2 displays?

Ritterview

You can get a wireless speed/cadence sensor, and have the captain and stoker both read from it. A Garmin is nice. The Edge 305 is too difficult to read (IMO). An Edge 500, 750 or 800 is great for the captain, and a Bontrager Node can pick up the Garmin's ANT+ speed/cadence sensor.


Bontrager Node2 for stoker reading from Garmin

Bent In El Paso

My wife and I run two VDO wireless computers with a signal from one transmitter on the front fork. We picked this model because of the advertised range of the sending unit.

Dean V

Put on as many displays as you want. I don't normally use a computer on my single bike and I don't have one on the front of the tandem either.
My wife (stoker) likes to have one on the back, so she does.

Chris_W

Some computers have the necessary range for a unit mounted on the stoker's bars to pick up the signal, others do not. After some messing around with wireless units front and back picking up the same sensor, I finally gave up and settled on a wired unit for the stoker, using a sensor designed to pickup cadence and speed, and so with a wire long enough to go to the rear wheel.

We now both have speed and distance info, but only the captain has altitude and gradient, while only the stoker has cadence info, and so the stoker is welcome to ask for a different gear based on this. This setup is working very well for us.

BTW, my stoker has a long-ish torso, so the stoker's bars are very far forward. With the computer mounted on the bars, it was not easy to read because the captain was in the way. I've now added an extension designed to give more handlebar space, the computer is now mounted on that in a more easy-to-read location closer to the stoker. It's similar to this one, but a bit more sleek-looking:

TandemGeek

I tried using an FSA Control Center for Debbie's Garmin 305 but even sitting dead center she'd bang her knees on the thing when we were up and out of the saddle. Thankfully, it really wasn't essential as her bars and Garmin sit a little behind my saddle, which means the only time my rear-end gets in the way is when we're climbing and I'm sitting back on my saddle.



The ONLY downside to using a single transmitter for receivers on the captain's and stoker's bars is you have a single point failure if a sensor battery isn't replaced before it dies or if a sensor gets knocked out of alignment with its magnet while loading / unloading the bike or installing a wheel... which, per Murphy's Law only gets noticed 10 seconds into a mass-start ride when stopping to adjust the sensor isn't really an option. Other than that, some good leads in this thread for what the OP is looking for.

DCwom

Cateye Mity 8 for the captain and recently an old Garman eTrex classic yellow GPS for the stoker. The the stoker wantted a speedometer to keep me honest and I've had the old eTrex for years, but she only uses it for speed and distance. The main drawback of the old Garmin is battery usage.

For us the main measure is distance; speed is fun to know (especially on the downhills), but ultimately how far we go is the best measure for OUR effort. If you're a hill climber or the racy drafting type distance may not be enough.

apage4u

We use the Cateye V3 with one transmitter on the rear. This is the only one we have found that gives us each our heart rate and cadence.

Phantoj

One display for the 4- or 7- year old kid stoker. They love calling out the speed and periodically the temperature.

I have a mount for the Garmin on the captain's stem, but I don't ever bother.

Carbonfiberboy 

Our captain uses a Shimano Flight Deck for speed and cadence, and a Polar 725i for HR data and elevation recording. The Flight Deck is very nice because captain can't see the gears like on a single. It can be hard to keep track of where you are. Stoker uses a wired Cateye for speed and distance. She likes to know the speed so she can close her eyes when we get to 43, and she navigates, so needs to know distance. She doesn't need to know cadence, being comfortable with the cadences captain uses. She also has a coded Polar HRM. We really like the two coded HRMs so we can call out HR to each other to keep the effort synchronized. So that's 4 machines. The nice thing about these simple machines is that they only need a new battery once a year.

TerryH

Stoker uses the same GPS from her single bike, I use my mountain bike GPS (as opposed to my road bike GPS or my (shudder) running GPS, or my hiking GPS - I could stop any time I like, I don't have a problem...) Both Garmins can pick up the single cadence sensor, but I'm not sure if the stoker ever bothers to switch selected bikes to get cadence on the tandem.

zonatandem

We use a Planet Bike Protoge 9.0 that displays 5 different readings simultaneously.
It is hard-wired and on Captain's bars.
Stoker Kay says she has no need for a 'puter; after 35+ years of tandeming, she knows what she wants!
Gives us all th einfo we want/need.
Pedal on!
Rudyand Kay/zonatandem

Mr. Beanz

Better that my wife doesn't know our speed.

Butcher

We have three. One 705 and a Campy ErgoBrain for the capt. and a VDO for the stoker. The ErgoBrain works great for the gear indicator and the 705 does the rest. The reason for the VDO for the stoker is that is what we both had [using one sensor] in the early days. Yeah, it might look kinda wierd having that many sensors, but they all work.

Sven

I bought two cheap wired Sigma Sport computers and split up the wires to connect them to the same sensor. It works great as long as we're cycling or just one of the computers is connected. When both computers are mounted and we are standing still one of the computers says the speed is 5 km/h. Sometimes the captain's computer is wrong and sometimes the stoker's.

hockey

We also wired two computers to one sensor. Just tie the wires together, works flawlessly.

David Tandem

My first tandem I put a Cateye Astrale with cadence for both the captain and the stoker. Captain pickup is off of the front wheel, stoker is off of the rear. Captain has tons of extra wire, stoker wire uses the extra long tandem wiring harness but is just long enough with only a few inches extra. Didn't try using a single set of magnet switches as I've had difficulty soldering some Astrale harnesses in the past when they broke. IDK if the conductors are coated or what, just easier this way.

2nd tandem only captain has wireless.

3rd tandem (triple) just bought and haven't had funds to start adding computers yet.

Back when I had a Adams Ultimate Tandem trail-a-bike (seats 2) I got super cheap computers for that and wired them together. oddly, instead of wiring it all in parallel, I had to wire the computers in series with the magnet switch. Worked like a champ.

sine

None of our bikes have a cycling computer.

When I started cycling it was fun knowing how fast I was going. Now two decades later I find that it is sufficient to know what our fitness level is, effort on the bike and where we are in relation to other riders in our group.

blamp28

We use a single computer on the captain's bar. I offered to mount one for my wife but she doesn't really want one and if she wants to see speed, she can read over my shoulder as we ride a recumbent tandem.