It is the offseason so tell me about Tandem Bikes, Do you ride with your significant other, How is that? Do the bikes allow for both riders to get a good workout given different abilities? How do they handle?
Love our Santana tandem. Ours is getting older, and writing this makes me aware of how quickly the years have passed. We got ours the year before we were married. Ordered it with SS Couplings and I knew my wife loved me when we based our honeymoon (Italy, Switzerland, Germany) around it, traveling by car from destination to destination and then going on day rides wherever we were. Then came the kids. For a while we’d tow one behind us in a Burley trailer. Then two in the trailer. Then one in a babyseat behind my wife and the other in the trailer. The tandem fits perfectly on the back of our RV, along with the kids’ bikes now (they are 7 and 10) and now it is part of or family bike rides, with the boys going on their own power. As the boys get stronger, the tandem will again stretch its legs. . . .
Clearly, the tandem serves a different role than any of my other bikes (tri, road, cross, mountain . . . .) But there are many, many days when I wouldn’t have ridden at all if not for the tandem. And, truly, I have fantastic memories of the mostly good times that I’ve had, first with just my wife (always fun), then with the whole family.
As to your questions, our tandem (like most) requires my wife to pedal in synch with me. You can get variants that would allow the stoker to not have to pedal, but it hasn’t been an issue for us. I am much stronger than my wife, but that hasn’t been an issue: she just needs to keep up with my cadence, not my power, and we communicate about our gearing choices (as well as about starting, stopping, slowing, major bumps, and everything else). If she weren’t connected, we’d never ride together. Because I end up pulling so much weight, the tandem has always been an excellent workout (and mine fits me just as well as any of my other bikes).
Our tandem is built for durability. Given how much stuff I’ve dragged, the weight of the bike itself has been kind of a drop in the bucket. But you can go for something performance oriented, if that floats your boat.
Highly recommend.
We have a Santana as well. On the tandem we both get a good workout, I probably get a better leg (less cardio) workout than on my single.
I’ve lusted for a Santana for somewhere between 25 and 30 years. My wife has no interest but my sons sure did and I would have loved to have been able to afford one back then to go with them. He’ll, now that they are stronger, I’d love one.
And, I have rented one years ago. Really enjoyed it. Takes some getting used to, for both folks. But, as long as you are both willing to use the same rpm, there shouldn’t be an issue.
If you have the money and someone to share the road with, go for it. You can get as much workout as you’d like.
My wife and I ride a tandem! (N+4) We got the tandem because she got sick and tired of being left in the dust after the first mile when riding our singles bikes. It’s quite a change from my Triathlon bike and I schedule it as my easy day. We love it!! We plan our routes so that their slow and easy. Lots of stops with maybe a cafe break mid ride or a ice cream break.
The golden rule when tandem riding, “the Stoker is ALWAYS right” !
Lot’s of communication between Captain and Stoker will make for a happy ride.
As to how they ride, it depends on the quality of the bike. We have a Co-Motion Java with Shimano Ultegra triple, it fly’s on the flats and can be scary fast down hill.A single bike would have a hard time keeping up. On the uphill, not so good. Our tandem triple is geared with a 24 chainring and a 11-32 cassette and on very steep hills I need every bit of it.
Tandems handle very different than single bikes. A car analogy would be like driving a large pickup truck vs a small sports car. Maneuvering is slow and deliberate.
My wive is a novice biker, so our abilities are far apart. That’s where a tandem really shines!! She’s very comfortable with my bike handling abilities and she just enjoys the ride and each others company. With lots of communication, she rides within her ability. When I ask her “Scotty can you give me just a little more” she responds.
As far as work out goes. If we pick a particularly hilly long ride,I’m toast at the end of the ride. I’ve ridden a few times with my 35 yo son who also is a Triathlete. Those rides were an absolute blast!!! Like a two man pace line on steroids!
I say go for it!!! Find a slightly used Co-Motion or Santana on E-bay. That way you can try it out before you invest to much $$$ into it. Remember high end tandems are basically custom bikes and can REALLY add up in $$$$$$ very quickly.
The “bike forum” has a good tandem community with lots of experienced riders.
My wife and I have been riding tandems for about 20 years. Bought one before we were married. Yes, you can both get an excellent workout. We haven’t ridden as much since getting into tri and ironman training, but offseason it is great. Too many fantastic memories to count!
I forgot to mention, having ridden a tandem myself but doing the vast majority of my rides on a solo bike but in a few cases around tandems, they can be wickedly fast downhill. When I rented one with my son (who was in his late teens), we’d make a habit of dropping riders on the downhills and flats. They may have been faster uphill but once we got moving on the flats they’d have a hard time hanging on and downhill, if we didn’t run out of gears, they’d have a lot of trouble hanging in there. Great memories.
My wife (stoker) and I have been riding a tandem for 10+ years. Just built up a new tandem this year (Calfee) which comes in under 25lbs! I find it an equally good workout to my single bikes, although slightly different. Since it is really the combined wattage that matters, two riders who differ in power can both get a great workout as long as they have similar cadence and similar or complementary riding style (i.e. how hard they climb, when they let up, etc). My wife can not ride a single bike and was not a cyclist when we met, so all she knows of cycling was learned on the tandem, which is great for me because she learned to match all of my existing habits. We are actually faster together on the tandem than I am on my single road bike, especially on not-too-steep climbs because we can alternate pushing ourselves over our limit and have the other person pick up the slack if we start to crack.
It is also a great way to spend time together!
I was a guide/training partner for a blind triathlete for quite a while. When I first volunteered and rode the tandem for the first time I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. It seemed very heavy, nervous and extremely hard to handle. After a couple of rides it didn’t seem much different than a regular bike. After a few more I really grew to love it. We may have been at a bit of a disadvantage since he was blind, I think it makes balancing a bit harder (not to mention stopping/unclipping) but after a few rides together it was cake. You can both get a really good workout on it, no question there. We did many centuries, hill repeats etc going into IMCdA and it really made the long miles go by faster. It was an absolute blast and I felt like when I rode solo I was a better cyclist for having done it. If one rider or the other isn’t pulling his weight you can tell but riders of different abilities contribute the power that they are able and the end result is the combination of both your efforts. I was really surprised how well it worked out.
Where to start? My wife and I have multiple tandems for multiple riding. Just as we all have different single bikes for different things. Tandem riding is awesome. If you can get a 5 hour training ride in and not have to be alone, what’s better than that? Mostly the captians are the men. You can go as hard as you want or can. You’ll never hear about dropping her. She’s on the same bike. If you want to go on a nice recovery ride, spend some nice time with her on the tandem riding through the subdivisions.
Never forget, as was mentioned earlier, the stoker is ALWAYS right.
This winter I will be putting Garmin Vectors on our road tandem. That will allow me to actually train in the correct wattage zones even on the tandem. How cool is that?
Last year we had about 1200 miles on our tandem. Almost entirely on our road tandem. This year we have committed to each other to hit 2000 miles.
For me, its just like training on a regular road bike, put I get to do it with my best friend, my wife.
BTW, tandems are like relationship accelerators. What ever direction your relationship is pointed to, you will move in that direction a whole lot faster on a tandem.
If you do get a tandem, join a tandem club. Only happy couples can ride tandems successfully, so everybody in the group is happy. Great people.
As you can tell, I’m a big fan.
Another fan of tandems. We have 2 - an older Santana and a custom coupled tandem built by a small custom builder. Taken into the coupled bike to Europe a couple of times and on plenty of trips in the US. As others have said they are perfect for couples of different abilities. My wife doesn’t ride a single bike but loves to take ride and take pictures from the back of the tandem. We have met many wonderful couples and the tandem scene is very friendly. Highly recommend it and would advise either renting or buying used before making the commitment to a new bike to ensure that you will both will enjoy it and to get an idea of what you like and want the tandem to be for you. The major manufacturers like Santana, Co-motion design bikes with different riders in mind and handle differently. DaVinci Tandems even make bikes that allow independent pedaling which sometimes helps for couples that have a major cadence mismatch.
Can the shorter person ever be the captain?
My husband has some significant balance issues due to a brain tumor. He doesn’t feel comfortable riding due to the balance plus he lost his hearing in one ear so he is unable to hear cars coming up from behind him.
Yes, the shorter person can be the captain. Probably best bike handler should be captain as long as the weight difference is not too large for the captain to hold up the bike if the stoker is going to stay clipped in on stops. Might be an issue getting a stock bike for large height differences with a shorter captain though there are some bikes that have larger adjustment ranges.