DrRobert

I am 6-1, my wife is 5-0.

Looking at tandems what options would we have?

mtseymour

If you're in the front, you should easily find many stock frames that will work well. It's far more difficult to get a good fit when the captain is shorter or the same height. If your single bikes have been properly fitted, you can use their geometry (top tube length, stand-over, etc) as a good approximation to narrow down the tandem options.

CliffordK

You might also look at Bike Friday frames.
https://www.bikefriday.com/folding-b...andem-twosday/

They do semi-custom builds to your specs. And, with the small wheels they are quite adjustable.

Any chance you'll be coming to Oregon sometime?

Paul J

You should check out Co-Motion's frame size Large Primera has seat tubes of 56 and 46 with a head tube of 185, The Large/Small Speedster has seat tubes 56/42 with a long 225 MM head tube. You also might want to check out the PeriScope Torpedo in Large has a 30" seat tube when fully inserted. The Head Tube is 205 MM which is pretty tall so if you are a pretty normal 6' 1" person it should work for you.
Co-Motion Cycles | bikes-grid-all-tandems

radsmd

Love the periscope style from Comotion for its versatility.

ahultin

Depends on your budget. I routinely fit very short stokers(@4ft) thru very tall (@6ft+) stokers on my XL/S Cannondale tandem.

binderjb

Check out the Cannondale XL frame which has a small stoker compartment, mainly, just test ride some bikes, even if you have to drive a while.

tandembethesda

I'm 6'3" and my wife is 5'4" and we ride a Trek T900. We bought it used for about $450. New it's 1,149.99.

We ride once a week for about 30 miles and we really enjoy it. It rides like a hybrid. Upright and a bit heavy. We've had it for over two years and plan to make a trip to Tandems East some time this summer to see what an upgrade would feel like.

We do not excel at climbing hills, especially at the end of our ride. Not sure if an upgrade would make a big difference or if we are limited by our abilities.

ksisler

D/R; Noting only that on a tandem, the stoker doesn't really need to be able to put both feet down on the ground so the rear can be an inch or two taller than on an equivalent fitting single... assuming that the inseam fit is good to go.

zonatandem

Pilot 5'7", stoker 4' 8-1/2".
Custom Zona tandem, currently with 45,000+ miles on the odo.
Go custom, a good fit is wel worth the inve$tment!

JTBiker

We have ridden over 45K miles on our Just-Two-Bikes side by side recumbent in past twenty years in six states. They are extremely comfortable, provide as much exercise as one wants, but most important of all, allow both riders to carry on a conversation while riding... not possible on a tandem.

I also buy and sell these bikes... fifteen over past twelve years. Currently have three with one for sale.

Bo...

Leisesturm

[FWIW] we recently bought a new T900. I am impressed with how light it appears to be. Without trying very hard to make a light bike out of it, in fact, the opposite... even with fenders, heavy duty rear rack, double leg kickstand and 2.0" Comfort tires, it feels lighter than some of the several single bikes I own! The shop where we bought it offered to weigh it when we were done customizing it but it just hasn't happened yet. Ditching the OEM seats saved a lot of weight as it happens, but, as I said, we weren't trying to make a light bike out of it. Just a functional one.

Our regular ride is a Kent Dual-Drive, and is advertised as being 65lbs. Ours also has fenders, rack, double leg kickstand and big tires. The difference between the Kent and the Trek is immediately felt, and our ETA from home to office as a team reflects that, even in city traffic. Gearing, frame stiffness, and quality components all help, but losing ~25lbs. is probably the biggest advantage. We have another tandem that has more sporting pretensions that we thought was pretty light. It is. It is 12 years old, however, in that time a hybrid type city bike tricked out for commuting can now weigh within 5lbs of a lowish end 700C, Shimano 105 class road bike in the same price category.

Bottom line, you would have to pay a LOT of money to get a bike much lighter than your T900, unless your Trek is seriously old. I'm shocked myself at how long they have been around, and I didn't know they existed until this year. Our Raleigh (the 700C) road bike used to do 40 milers in rolling, sometimes hilly terrain with all the usual Tandem Club suspects and gave a good account of itself, despite costing 1/5 what most of them did, and 1/10 of more than a few. I've never felt the slightest need to "upgrade", because 'J' and I spent an awful lot of time coasting, or even riding the brakes a little, to stay with the group, even while they were all cranking away.

Here is our secret for climbing hills: low gears and patience. We made a fearsome hill climber out of the Raleigh by changing the 30T small chainwheel to a 24T. The small chainwheel of a new T900 is 28T. I haven't felt as much of a need to make a similar modification to our T900 because the big rear cog is 32T. It was only 27T on the Raleigh. But if you struggle with the hills you regularly encounter, that is the way to beat them. You can't buy a lighter enough bike to make the difference that a few teeth less up front (or more in back) will make. And for thousands of dollars less money spent. [/FWIW]

fietsbob

Bike Friday Tandems https://www.bikefriday.com/folding-b...family-tandem/

They are easy to ship to go overseas too ..