Our tandem is just about ready to ride. My husband built it up over the last couple of months. It's a very cool aluminum frame with a Titanflex beam for the stoker - that would be me. The brakes are not quite where we want them yet; it has mountain bike style brakes at both ends right now, but the frame has a hanger for a disk in the back, and that's what we'd ultimately like to have there. We had to swap out my usual 42cm bars, since my thumbs were impeding his thighs. I think a 44cm bar will be ok on the tandem where it would be too wide on my single bike, because I can change positions more frequently and don't have to ride with my hands on or near the controls as much, as there be no controls there anyway. At the moment we have to swap our pedals back and forth from our single bikes, but we'll get some spare pedals soon. I got on it last night on the trainer for the first time to get sized, but with that beam, Rob had been able to exactly match the measurements and angles of my single bike which fits me like a glove, so the tandem felt great right from the start.
I know there are at least a couple of other tandem owners out there; any advice for us starting out? We've been reading up, but any wisdom will be gratefully accepted. We hope to use the thing to get some longer aerobic training rides as a break from our solo rides. I've heard that among other things I'll have to resist the urge to steer; I'm hoping my experience on the pillion of his motorcycles will help with this adjustment.
I know there are at least a couple of other tandem owners out there; any advice for us starting out? We've been reading up, but any wisdom will be gratefully accepted. We hope to use the thing to get some longer aerobic training rides as a break from our solo rides. I've heard that among other things I'll have to resist the urge to steer; I'm hoping my experience on the pillion of his motorcycles will help with this adjustment.