Any thoughts on tandems?

Triathlon Forum
1

Long story short, I love riding with my wife (it gives me the chance to train while still spending time with her), but her tempo/threshold (coggan Z3/Z4) zone is right around my active recovery (Z1). That’s no good.

She’s been expressing interest in a tandem as well, but is this going to help much? I guess we’ll be riding together for sure, but I don’t quite know what our two paces put together will amount to. I’m thinking we’d be doing mostly group rides. On the flats, for example, would we be wicked fast, since our combined mass has little bearing and we get excellent draft, or would we average some speed between her and my individuals. I’m even less sure about hills.

That all said, what are some brand possibilities? I don’t need fancy components; I’m thinking sora/105, but I want real road wheels/bars/etc. I keep seeing otherwise nice looking bikes with 700x30 tires. What is up with that? I know tandems cost a fair amount, but I think I should be able to get that for, I don’t know, maybe $1500-2000.

2

Sorry to see this wasn’t about what I hoped it was.

3

I was thinking the same
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4

A couple of Cat 3’s tried the tandem thing for the Tour for Cure (75 miles each way) a couple of years ago and the results were poor. They would have been much better of alone.

5

http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/features/riccitello/tandem.html
.

6

We have a Santana (al) cost just over $4000 approx 33lbs 9 speed with flight deck computer xtr deraillers wheel smith wheels came with 700cx25 now with 23 Very nice ride stoker seat post is suspension. We haven’t ridden it in 3 yrs but am going to ride much more this year and my coach seems to thing it is a great opportunity for training since my wifes cadence is slower than mine. ie power intervals over gearing hills not to mention pushing big gears on flats. Something your wife will have to get use to is giving up control because she will have none except what she can do to you from behind or after if she has a problem with that. It can be a lot of fun. Be sure to ride with people that are your level especially at first other wise you will end up totally wasted depending on your wifes fittness.

7

I lead a blind athlete in triathlons, and we train quite often on a tandem. Working out on a tandem provides wonderful drag for strength training. When I switch to my TT Bike, I feel like I am in a rocket ship. So I feel training with your wife would help, because she only has to pedal as hard as she wants while you are the engine.

We currently have 2 tandems right now. 1. is a Cannodale rt-3000. I think it runs for about $3000 ish. It has decent shimano parts and the frame is relatively stiff. 2. is a Burley collapsible (meaning, we can take it apart and ship it in two suit cases). Burley has more of a road bike feel, but is a bit heavier than the Cannodale.

Trek also makes a Tandem, but the sizes seem to be limited.

PS. Think of the Tandem Charteristics as that of a mack truck. Going down hill and in the flats, it is wicked fast. Uphill is a BITCH!!!

9

I bought my first tandem when I met my wife. You are quite correct in that Z4 does not equal Z1. You will be totally relaxing while she is working her tail off, not a good thing. Been there doen that…bought the tandem…

You will get a strength workout by riding a tandem. The weight of the bike makes pedalling a whole different feeling. If you “stab” at the pedals, you will die very quick on a tandem. You will have to apply power very smoothly. If you live around anything but flats, you will get a great workout on the hills :smiley: Nothing like pulling a few extra pounds up the slopes.

You will not have to worry about going out for a ride while she stays at home either. She will be riding with you, and not you riding along holding her hand (which is where you end up with Z4 vs Z1).

A few perks of tandem riding…you can get a back rub while riding…you never have to open a Powerbar wrapper…food can appear (unwrapped) when you want…

For that price range, I would look into Burley, Cannondale, Trek, Raleigh. I ride 700 x 23 front and 700 x 25 rear (bigger tire on back = cushey ride for the important ones!!!) Oh yea, get a shock post on the back for the same reason - very important!!

Mike

Currently - Burley Duet (road version), Burley Rock-n-Roll (26" wheeled version), and Triplet from Chucksbikes.com

10

Tandems are a great option for a couple that are both fit but there is still a decent differential in their fitness levels - so much so that riding on seperate bikes is frustrating for both( to ride together it’s too hard for one or too hard for the other or vice versa).

I am not sure of a tandems use for specific high quality or race prep training, but for longer easier paced rides or tours they can be great - both people feel like they are making strong contributions to the effort. You do have to work together as a team quite a bit. There needs to be GOOD communication between captain and stoker at all times regarding bumps in the road, turns, when to stand, when more power is needed and when to coast.

I don’t own a tandem, but have regularly borrowed friends. However, I have been advised that if I was considering a purchase, that you need to look mid to high end as the lower end ones are very heavy and clunky. They are not cheap and a mid-quality tandem rig starts at abouit $3,000.

11

I ride with a buddy and his wife sometimes (they ride a tandem). On flats they are steady, down hill they haul ass, up hill not good. They have a cannondale, it’s a nice bike. Its built like a touring bike. there is a fair amount of weight there, I’m not sure I would put less than 28’s in the wheels.

12

We’ve got one we built up from a Tsunami road tandem frame (the rear seat is suspended a la Titanflex), with mostly 105, 700x28’s, disc brake in the rear. I don’t think I would want to go smaller than 28’s, but we’ve seen 23’s, yikes. I have a road bar in the back with hoods (no shifters, obviously) to hold on to. The bike cost us about $1500; it’s lighter than some mountain bikes. It is definitely a strength workout for both of us, and makes us feel like we’re flying when we get back on our singles bikes. We don’t have quite the disparity between us in terms of aerobic range, but my husband is clearly the stronger of the two of us. We find we can go along pretty good on the flats as long as we keep our momentum going; uphill is a strength session, and downhill the thing just screams. So far I’ve found riding with him is really good for my cycling; since there is very little to do in the back except pedal (prepare snacks, sign autographs, contribute to the conversation), I can focus on a round pedal stroke. Also I have the computer mounted on my handlebar, so I can keep track of our cadence and other stuff. It takes a lot of communication to learn to ride the thing together, but we’ve really enjoyed the process. It’s a great way to spend time together and brings kind of a fresh experience to the training ride. Hope that helps. If you’re interested in building a similar one up, I’m sure Rob would be happy to talk with you about it.

13

Hey, power to you, I expect my wife and I would probably kill each other, but I love my time with my kid on my tandem. My wife and I do occassionally tool around but I use it mostly with my 9yr old son (some time with my 6 year old with crank adapter). He loves it and he learns a lot on it. We even do the local time trial on it and fair pretty well. It does sometimes suck to be busting my ass while he is talking about some cool bird he just saw, but we have a great time. I can not compete with the same people but I still get a great work out. Son can not do the next couple but I hope to do at least one of them with some power behind me. I got interested after exposure to tamdems on a state tour last year. Lots of couples on them and they looked to be having fun. I plan on doing 3-4 days this year with my son.

It is really a shame that tandems are so expensive (especially when you are spoiled with top end components), because I think they are a great way to go either with kids, spouses or friends. There are some good recommendations (I think I posted to Jacqui when they were building theirs) but I ended up with the upper end Trek. It was expensive, but not nearly as bad as some of the specialty manufacturers out there.

14

My wife and I rode a tandem once last year and had an awful time of it. We had signed up for a road ride this year and thought we’d give it another shot. Found a great shop in town (http://tandemcycleworks.com/site/) and went to talk to them about what we would need. They got us set up, gave us an introduction on necessary information (your wife will have to get used to not having control) and sent us out on a test ride. The test ride went so much better than our previous experience it wasn’t even comparable. It was sort of scary, but really a great fun.

On the ride the next day, we learned even more about riding together (I like having her close - much better than leaving her 1mile behind and waiting all the time) and really enjoyed ourselves. The wind was tough and we were wiped out after 50 miles, but it was her longest ride ever and we were still in a good mood the rest of the day and not cranky and exhausted.

Things we learned:

Steel is good for a tandem frame - really benficial for absorbing some road shock

Tandems can really go fast - we were able to pass a ton of people going up hills, and pass even more people going down. You may have more weight, but you also have more power! Flats will take some time to master, but we’ll get there (smooth pedaling isn’t our strongest suit)

Folks on group rides love tandems because they make a great leader for the paceline.

Clipless pedals are nearly a must - if you test-ride a bike, bring pedals and shoes as it will make the experience easier.

Tandems come in a ton of shapes, sizes, colors and options

The downside - now we want to buy one, and they aren’t nearly cheap - the one we’re looking at is $5,000 or more. I’m hoping that I can get this paint job to go with it :wink: http://www.co-motion.com/graphics/thum/mgotompacblthumb.gif

Websites to check out for more information (besides the above shop link):

http://www.tandemmag.com/classified/

http://www.co-motion.com/

http://www.santanainc.com/

Good luck with the shopping, and make sure you test-ride before you buy - you may think it is great, but if your stoker isn’t comfortable then you won’t ever use the bike.

Happy Training,

Josh

15

We love tandems, have been riding them since I was expecting our first child (10 years). What we’ve found is that we’re faster as a tandem team than we are separately so it’s fun to tandem on some of the tours. Hills are tough, but they sure go good into the wind and of course downhill and on the flats.

We ride Burley tandems, we have an old Burley Bongo which is actually a mountain bike and a Burley paso fino, which is one fast bike. We ride on 700X 28s (there’s just a lot more weight there) and have had to respoke our wheels with heavy duty spokes, as my spouse is a spoke breaking fool who can break more spokes just pedalling along than anyone I’ve ever heard of. I have had the shock absorbing seatposts, but recently put on a carbon post on the back and it dampens the bumps pretty well. We got a huge huge price break on both of them and have been happy with Burley overall, so I can’t offer much there.

Just remember the golden rule that the stoker is always right and you won’t go wrong.

16

Andy,

Give the tandem a go. I have been riding tandems for 6 years now. Initially with my wife but now with a blind stoker or my kids. We have a Bilenky tandem and a Santana triplet. I ride the triplet with my 6 and 4 year olds.

in general your speed will be the average of your two speeds on singles, except on downhills where you may be able to go much faster depending on how much risk your stoker is willing to take.

You will feel like you are going much slower uphills but your wife may be going faster than she is used to. You also have to figure in each of your pedaling styles.

If you are a spinner and she is a masher you may not ride as well together especially uphill. Also, it takes coordination to have both riders stand while going uphill so you may end up sitting and spinning up in a lower gear then you would on a single.

But riding a tandem beats two single riders trying to ride together where one has to wait up for the other or one has to work much harder to keep up.

You need to give it some time to get used to a tandem but most folks who stick to it end up flying and working very well together.

click on the little picture in this article

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/07/20/PN182838.DTL

Willy in Pacifica

17

I saw a red one of these in action at Alcatraz last weekend. It was a blind athlete and partner. I think it had aerobars too.

18

Tandems are great for your situation, with the following caveots:

  • don’t expect to be able to draft well on group rides, your pretty much on your own
  • they are not as comfortable for either rider, it is tough to stand and move around much.
  • you can get pretty tired braking if it is hilly at all
  • my tandem has 27" wheels, great for moving over bumps since standing is tough
  • your stoker may suffer the occassional drop of sweat
  • you will get yelled at a lot for not calling bumps, riding recklessly, etc.
  • they can be difficult to transport
  • they are fast as greased lightning on the flats

I have a cheap Schwinn tandem with suntour components, but it is perfect for the small amount we use it.

19

We have a Cannondale MT 1000 that we bought in 1999. Right now, the Cannondale’s seem to offer the best value in tandems under the $2K price point. My wife and I love it, and are planning to hook the trailer up and drag the little guys all over this summer.

There is a tandem board over in the cycling forums, not sure what the url is but if you search yahoo you can find it.

Have fun, drn92