Equal Riders ?
 

Most of the posts I have seen here are about people who use tandems as the answer for how to deal with a stronger rider and a weaker rider. My wife and I peddle on solo bikes about the same speed and cadence. Will we be faster on a tandem or about the same speed as on our solo bikes? What is it like peddling a tandem with someone about the same ability?

The main reason for us to start tandeming (back in 1975) was so that we could ride TWOgether!
Kay was perfectly able to ride centuries solo, but by doing it on the tandem we didn't have to look over our shoulder to see where the other one was.
Riding tanden works equally well with a partner that is either slower/faster/better than the other or equal in ability.
We soon developed our tandemAttachment 177447 riding style, which is totally different of what pilot does on a single bike.
Pedal on!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

. . . oh, and you'll likely be a tad faster on flat terrain, a whole lot faster on downhills, and a tad slower on the long climbs!
So go for it!

Some estimates I've seen show the drag of a tandem only 30% more than that of a single bike. Power required goes as the cube of speed. The combination of these two factors equals one "tad". Downhills are a blast.

As a long time bicyclist, I found it fun to do something new. Tandem riding is different enough that it feels almost like a whole new hobby, with the benefit of not needing to buy all new gear and accessories or develop new muscles, etc.

Rent one sometime and see how you like it!

It will all depend on the compatibility of your cadences and riding styles... and how well each you are at making any needed compromises to find a happy median for differences.

Some evenly matched, strong teams are monsters on a tandem. Others just can't work out the compromises needed. It's a very individual thing.

Your performance on the tandem will be a by product of your efficiency. In general, most sport / recreational rider tandem team area bit faster on flats than either of the individuals are on a solo bike. Hills are where the differences in compatibility come in to play. There are some tandem teams who simply fly up hills, while others struggle. In most cases, a strong single bike rider will find that they are slower on climbs on the tandem even when they climb well on the tandem.

Wheelspeed comment +1

My wife and I jumped into tandem riding with both feet. We have been hooked ever since. For us it has been a wonderful relationship building experience. (Even after I dropped her by accident while clipping in. :D ) We have logged 2,000 miles on the tandem in the first three months we have had it.

In our case, she was the weaker rider. Now she often encourages me to ride harder. We are doing weekly centuries and are planning to do at least the 200K and 300K brevet distances next year along with at least one extended tour.

OMG, what have I done???

IMO having two equal riders can only make it more fun.

A couple of pretty equal riders here in Tucson teamed up on a tandem a few years ago. You might have seen one of them's account of the fun:

http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadin...lo/tandem.html

A tandem solves the problem of the two cyclists getting irked at each other because the weaker has to struggle and the stronger has to wait. True, there is no inherent reason why two people of the same strength cannot learn to enjoy riding a tandem, although the "Why bother?" question has to be posed. If you are truly equally matched, what you gain for the $$$$ sunk into a tandem are faster descending speeds, a mechanically more complex toy to tinker with, and that peculiarly compelling Bligh-Christian relationship. ;) (And lots of "She's not pedaling!" encouragements.) Not everyone would agree that these are "gains". On the level , two equally strong riders will not be faster on a tandem in most wind conditions than the two of you can be on single bikes together if you practise disciplined drafting, particularly in crosswinds which are murder on a tandem. I'll expect disagreement here, that's OK. I've never stuck a strong(-ish) guy on the back to test it.

If you think that the two of you really are equally strong, you can't gauge it until you try to beat each other, and really mean it. Cruising along in company doesn't count. Find a long hill and both of you ride your single bikes up it as fast as you can. Unless you are unusual for a male-female married couple, you'll probably find that you fit the stereotype of stonger/weaker more closely than you think, and a tandem will do good things for you. (Notice I didn't say that the guy is necessarily the stronger!) On a tandem, you'll climb at closer to the single-bike speed of the slower member....but you'll arrive at the top together and that is often the paradigm-shifting moment that says, "Let's get one!"

I can't say how matched we are as a team but one thing riding a tandem has done is to balance our total ride experience. On singles my wife is always a jack rabbit at the beginning of a ride and dragging at the end while I'm more of a slow grinder the whole distance. With a tandem we obviously stay together but I think we contribute at different levels as the ride progresses. As other have mentioned you have to ride one to really find out.

If you are compatible and not riding in a pack, very hilly country, cross-winds or around town with lots of starts and stops, I think you will be faster to a degree you will definitely notice. You will have to try to find out! I don't just base this on the physics which favor tandems in a lot of situations, but also on the additional communication you get through the timing chain which can really give you extra motivation to go hard. There is no equivalent on a single.

So why are you interested in riding tandem, if you already get to ride together on singles? Since you mention speed, I devine some competitive impulse here.

Do you want to smoke the pack you usually just hang with? The tandem may help, but they will make you suffer on the uphills. If you just want to hang with the pack, it will be harder on the tandem due to momentum differences.

Do you want a PR for a rally or timetrial? The tandem can really help if you don't feel like it's cheating.

All your friends have tandems and you want to join the fun? Go ahead! Someone will probably lend you a bike for a ride or two.

Enjoy being different and having people point as you ride past? A tandem is in your future......

You will average a faster speed on most rides than you would solo.
It will not necessarily be faster than a group of single bikes though.
The main thing I like about the tandem is being able to work together and achieve something as a team.

Based upon my limited experience, generally you'll ride:
Faster into a headwind.
About the same or a little faster with a tailwind (for a longer time).
Slower uphill.
Much faster downhill.
With practice and good technique, you will probably improve your uphill riding to be the same or a little better than the solo.

We appreciate all the responses we have gotten to our question. Now I’ll explain the rest of the situation. At a combined age of almost 125 years we are enjoying our very relaxed life style and are not looking for a lot of racing, just another experience. However, speed is always fun. There is not a lot of organized riding in this area. We ride mostly during the day and during the week to avoid as much traffic as possible consequently we don‘t see a lot of other riders. We aren’t interested in giving up our solo bikes, in fact we have considered getting new ones. One of the things that has encouraged us to look into tandems is all the pictures of “Happy Tandem Couples” posted in this forum. The pictures make it look like fun and who doesn’t like fun. Some people confirmed our thinking that tandeming is (or can be) a shared experience and a working together you don’t get riding side by side on solos which also makes it a different experience.

Fun? Did you say fun? My wife and I haven't been on our singles since getting our tandem in late July.

Now back to reality. It is probably a good idea to borrow or rent a tandem before buying one. My wife is perfectly happy to trust her safety to me. She has her responsibilities on the bike and I have mine and combined we are a happy team. Some folks may not be willing to let go of the control which is required of a good stoker. Some folks may not be willing follow the cardinal rule of tandem riding "The Stoker Is Never Wrong" which is required of a good captain. There's nothing wrong with that. It just means that a tandem is probably not the best idea to maintain a happy relationship.

But when it clicks, I can personally attest that nothing is more fulfilling then being part of a working tandem team. ;-)

We second that emotion! Far and away it is the best thing we have ever done for our married happiness. (We didn't have children together, and even if we had......) We quite literally plan our lives (and vacations) around riding the tandem together. If we can't take the big bike, we don't go. Yet some people call them divorce machines, so be forewarned.

My wife and I have almost the exact same abilities on single bikes. We always rode together on our singles and we still do. We are both strong recreational riders: we ride 5-6 centuries a year and between 4000-5000 miles per year. I always noticed that we were almost perfectly in synch on the singles. We usually ride our singles with the same cadence and shift at the same time so I knew that we’d be compatible on the tandem. We purchased our first tandem earlier this year mostly for variety. It’s a nice way to keep the riding interesting when you ride 5-6 days a week. Although we wouldn’t think of giving up our single bikes or our cross bikes either, the tandem just adds another dimension to riding.

This year we rode the tandem 1-2 days per week and we did two centuries. The first had about 9800 vertical foot elevation gain and the second was a super flat century with less than 1000 vert that we did in less than 5.5 hours. We love having the option of riding the tandem. The speed is also addicting, it’s become our go-fast bike of choice.

We have a lot of fun and I think most of the posts you'll receive here will confirm that. There is one caveat however, most of the posters here come from successful tandem teams, the unsuccessful teams aren't likely to be here posting. We know a serious cycling couple that can't ride a tandem, it just doesn't work for them so they continue to ride singles. The bottom line is you have to try it to see if it works for you.

As for speed we are faster up, down and flat on our tandem. In our situation the tandem is a faster "road" hybrid than our "trail" hybrid singles.

Again, the rule is actually, "The stoker makes no mistakes." The stoker is frequently wrong.

LOL! I have been informed that my stoker is never wrong.

YOU as a captain will love the tandem even more with you and her being closely matched in output. Consistency from ride to ride, throughout each ride, with be much greater also.