Hi all,

I have been happily riding tandems for the past decade. When I ride my half bike with groups, I often marvel at others who track stand with ease at any light of almost any duration. This fall my wife and I participated in a local charity ride with about half a dozen other tandems and I was astounded that one of the tandem teams did track stands at every red light. Of course we asked about it, and the stoker seemed to rightly have supreme confidence in the captain, who obviously was confident in his abilities as well. Sadly we had a flat near the end of that ride and did not reconnect with this team to discuss it more after the ride. I was truly impressed at the time, and still am today. I know there are many of you who have more bike skills than I do. How many of you do track stands on your tandem? Is it significantly different from doing them on your half bike?

I know I will never be trying this, but I am curious to learn more.

Best wishes,

DMT

Santana Arriva, Cannondale Road Tandem, Santana Quad, half bikes, and unicycles too.

Wow, I'd like to see that!

Thus far the tandem bunnyhop is the most amazing thing I've seen.

Riding tandems off-road in technical riding locations teaches and almost forces you to learn skills that carry over to the road.

We are by no means any kind of highly rated circus act for skills at track standing, then again we are not like clowns that attempt and fall over. I am sure the right team can do this easily.

Off-road, there are many instances when we must virtually stop, then accelerate away. So the amount of time we can balance is fairly short.

Key word is practice, learn to accomplish it in running shoes before cycling shoes and clipped in. Consider also, most trackstand capable riders often turn the wheel 45 right or left, I always found this make the tandem a bit less controlled for us.

We are not good at trackstands, but work it into the ride whenever needed. Often ending with a foot down or very slowly rolling forward (1 foot or so) until the green light.

PK

I track stand our tandem often. It's just like track standing a single except the stoker must stay relatively still and not move laterally. My stoker doesn't really like it , I guess she doesn't fully trust my abilities

Seems like a daVinci would be easier to track stand - keeps the stoker out of the equation. Yet another reason to buy daVinci I'll pass this on to Todd.

We have a couple "automatic" gates in the a Corp of Engineers area on one of our daily routes. These gates often require a short stop while waiting for the arm to go up and we usually stay clipped in. This is too short to be called a track stand and we stay seated. Still we have received comments about a tandem doing that from single riders.

To track stand we would have to master the back and forth move we we cannot do. We can stop and balance for a short period but not track stand.

Tamden wheelies. Now that's impressive. Check youtube.

I've ridden singles for years and was pretty good at the track stand over time but the first time I tried it at a light on the tandem I got a whack from my stoker. Though last week while we were on the Swamp Rabbit trail we got some accolades from a coupe of roadies on singles for our slow-speed maneuvering through the barriers and across one of the bridges. Not having the clip-less pedals on currently adds to her comfort level.

Where to start? First of all, no one "balances" a bike, as in sitting perfectly still and the bike stays upright. What we do is continually fall left and right while steering the bike back underneath us. At speed, the spinning gyros, (the wheels), heavily resist this falling, so our corrections are minute and we enjoy the illusion of balancing. Slow down to a crawl, however, and the process becomes immediately evident.

Now, track stands. Again, no one balances. The track rider cocks his wheel up the track, and the road rider cocks his into the crown of the road. This allows the bike to move left and right. Push the pedal and go up the slope, release pressure and go back down. Left and right.

Note that the track rider employs this technique even though he has the ability to go backwards by pedaling backwards. But forward and backwards won't keep you upright. You must go left and right, hence the cocking of the wheel into the slope even on a fixed gear bike.

Tandems, as you've witnessed, can do the same thing. Cock the wheel into the crown of the road and use pressure/no pressure on the pedals to move incrementally left and right. As PMK and others mentioned, it requires:
A. Stoker confidence
B. Stoker's ability to sit perfectly neutral
C. Captains ability to track stand a road bike in the first place, and
D. Practice, practice, practice and patience, patience, patience.

Suggestions:
Drop the stokers seat down to where she can reach the ground flat-footed. Someone else mentioned using sneakers, not cleated shoes. These things will help inspire the willingness to try. Find a soft-looking, grassy incline to practice on, and have a go at it. Remember, the stoker will ALWAYS get nervous and put her foot down ahead of you. Expect it, discuss it and accept it. It's YOUR job to overcome her fear, (i.e, instill confidence in your ability), not hers.

You'll be wobbly at first, and your corrections will probably be large and erratic. Standing on the pedals is a good technique for starters, as it allows you to add some arm muscle into the act. You'll find yourself doing some amount of "throwing" the bike up and down the incline to keep your balance, but you'll slowly settle in and can sit down.

You'll know you're REALLY good when you're out on the road again with the Saturday group, you get into a tandem track stand at a light, you sit up and take your hands OFF the bars, and your stoker doesn't bat an eye.

You don't really need a sloping surface, it just makes things a little easier as you can press against the slope.

I can keep my wheels in a 6x2' rectangle on a flatter than flat indoor basketball court for a good long while.