# Is a tandem right for us?



## jalopy jockey (Jun 7, 2007)

Hey all, not sure where else to ask since we're not thinking of riding in the woods here, but since we are mountain bikers at heart your opinions/experiences are most relevant.

Heres the scoop. The wife and I both ride, you name it we ride it. When not in the woods, we regularly ride MUTs, back roads, park loops etc. with our two kids who are 2 and 4. I am a much stronger rider than she is. Nothing wrong with her riding (she's registered for ICEMAN this year). Its just our histories and physiology. 

Last year the balance point for exertion was I took both kids, my bike towing a trail a bike which in turn has a trailer attached. For most of the year I still had more gas than her. At least for the 1st 40 or 50 miles.

This year we can't seem to find the balance, If I have both I'm dying trying to match her pace cause they grew over the winter and she's much stronger than she was, and she's not working at all. If she takes either one, She's dying and I'm not feeling the ride, and in the last few days we've seen a lot of tandems on the paths. Which brings me here.

I'm thinking a tandem or a triple (not sure what those are called would help us balance the load of tugging the kids. So I have a few questions that I'd like opions on.

For our uses what kinds of tandems are there? I've seen roadies with drop bars, I've seen full susser advertised on MMBA.org, so I'd imagine there everything in between, except maybe a cyclocross racer. I'm not sure I'd want to try to run over stuff carrying that with someone else. But I'd love to watch  And for our intended uses what would be recommended? Again we ride anything from bike path, recreational road tours, to seasonal roads, minivans make it in the summer there just not plowed in the winter. Mileage may vary, our longest ride with the kids to date is just shy of a metric C, so long term comfort is important. But that her on a hardtail, and I on an old rigid mountainbike. We currently don't think we'll hit trail with it. She enjoys riding trail too much to give up control. Yeah guys I found a winner. 

Should look for a 2 or a 3 seater? I know right now I could do a tandem and hook my tag a long and trailer rig to it, but where does that leave me in 2 - 4 years when the 2 year old is too big for a trailer? But if I get a triple and do tours without the kids, that might be weird. Tours without the kids will happen, but we could ride solo, but if we had a tandem l that might be much more enjoyable. Pros cons, experience? Would a tandem with a trail a bike and trailer be ungodly to manage. I regularly do it with a single bike as the engine, so I'd image it would just mean yet a larger turning radius, slower stops, harder to thread the needle of MUT vehicle barriers at road crossings, etc. The rig too a while to get used to but 
by the end of last year it was all good.

Lastly How the heck to you haul them? I currently have Thule hitch rack. I'm assuming special roof racks with longer rails? 

Anything else I should have asked?


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## patineto (Oct 28, 2005)

I will say get a double, not a triple..

When you kids grow a little more maybe you guys can get a second tandem and then each of the you can carry one of the little kids around as a stocker.

doubles are far easier to find than triples, ergo you have better purchase leverage do to the many choices available, riding triples is kind of a pain, much to slow to turn, more flexible, storing them, carrying them, well do i need to say more...

Rigid/bouncy, road/flatbars...!?!? personally i like fully rigid Mountain bike tandems (26inch wheels) they still super fast but also stable and somehow more fun and versatil, but you can also modified a 700c tandem to be use with flatbars or a 26inch frame to be use with drop bars and STI shifters.

If you have the money and want to go super fancy Davinci makes tandems with "Independing pedaling" systems so each of you can pedal at different cadences if desire, then again you may need to sell your car but pay for one of them..


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## cmckim (Jul 18, 2007)

*davinci pedaling*

The Davinci system only allows independent coasting, not independent cadence. In order for both riders to add power to the bike they must still use the same cadence. On the original topic - My brother-in-law had two kids and he is an aerobic machine. The have tried several combinations, but ended up with two tandems. Their youngest was on the back of a tandem by 3 and a half years. Now the whole family get to have a great ride!

I suggest flat bars and 26" wheels as well.


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## patineto (Oct 28, 2005)

cmckim said:


> The Davinci system only allows independent coasting, not independent cadence. In order for both riders to add power to the bike they must still use the same cadence.


Upss sorry you are totally right about that, meBad.


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## TandemNut (Mar 12, 2004)

da Vinci may well have a less expensive option available later this year, so don't count them completely off the list. If you're not going off-road, the IP system migh just be the ticket.
Tandems are great equalizers, so you should benefit from that aspect a great deal. 
But you should ride a tandem together at least once and see how you like it. Not just a quick spin around the parking lot, but a good ride where you can both get comfortable with the quirks of tandems. Lots of folks' first rides on tandems aren't always the angelic romantic experience they expect, so have an open mind about it.
I'd agree on the 26" mtb-style tandem being much more versatile. You should also get mtb-ish gearing if you're going to be pulling kiddies and such. The da Vinci has that range built in, but other bikes need to be spec'd that way.
You can likely find some good deals on used Cannondale MT's almost everywhere for mid-teens and up, and you'll occasionally see a used Fandango around  
Check out the tandem boards for more info.
The ultimate tandem is an S&S version that can be made into either a triple or a double. Of course that's getting expensive!
Good luck. Call us if you want to chat about tandems.
Thanks


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## Lutarious (Feb 8, 2005)

*Tandem Truth*

There's a saying that "whichever way your relationship is heading, a tandem will get it there quicker."
We have been super happy on our rigid mountain tandem with flat bars and 26 inch wheels. My girlfriend and I ride a lot and although I'm stronger, she's a really skilled rider. We had no trouble adjusting to the tandem. I've also ridden with my lightweight mini-daughter. She's 14 and weighs like 90 pounds. On her own bike she can pedal like a turbine, but she won't take chances on the trail so she hasn't really developed any mountain bike skills. On the back, she's plenty strong, but talk about uncoordinated. Wow. I came home so sore from wrestling against her odd style I could hardly get the bike on the rack.

For your needs, I would suggest one tandem and one trail-a bike (with a complete drive train.) The stronger kid can ride as a stoker with your wife, and you can haul the lighter one on the trail-a bike. Trail a bikes don't handle as well as tandems, but seriously, how hard are you planning to ride with your yung-uns out back? When the bigger one gets bigger enough, she can ride her own bike and the auxiliary child can take the seat behind the captain.


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## jalopy jockey (Jun 7, 2007)

All our planned tandem riding would be rail trails and road tours. How hard are going to ride with the little ones? Well our longest ride to date is over 60 miles,that with last year being my 2nd year riding and her 1st. 15-20 miles each way to a playground is a very regular weekend occurance. with the 10 mile park beeing a weeknight treat. Yes we have a bunch closer but we all enjoy and hour on the bike and differement things to play on, so we're looking for a more effecient way to accomplish this. 

Lutarious your suggetion of wife on tandem with the strong one and me with the younger kid would not work. For the most part both are dead weight. I get 5 minutes of power production an hour out of the strong one. He just turned 4 last week, the other who will be 2 soon is in a trailer. I have to tell him to pedal when we hit a hill, and he sometimes will if he wants to catch up to mommy.

I'm really looking to get us all together, as we've tried wife with tag a long, me with trailer, reversed and me with both. Since non of our riding with kids is technical and I should not have a bigger turning radius than a semi with the tandem, tag a long, and trailer combination, I'm thinking that is the way to go. And if it works 2 tandems in a couple of years. It will be a long long time before the kids can ride metric Cs over rolling terrain. We gotta ditch the training wheels first. Has anyone tried a big rig like this? It's not much bigger than I rode for a few hundred miles last year. 

Now all I gotta do is find one to borrow locally. I'll post up on MMBA. but if anyone here happens to be in SE Michigan, and would let us borrow one for a 20-30 mile spin down a MUT let me know.


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## cmckim (Jul 18, 2007)

*Michigan*

How close are you to Lansing? I can't volunteer him myself, but my brother-in-law is there and has four tandems right now.


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## Plim (Dec 8, 2004)

Regarding whether a tandem is right for you: The unequal fitness levels is precisely why my wife and I got a tandem. We love it. It perfectly solves that problem. We've got a road tandem from Co-Motion, as my wife has no intention of ever going off road. (I'm currently trying to hatch schemes to change that.) 

A friend of mine has a convertible triple/tandem Bike Friday. He can put his whole family of four on it (small one is still in a baby seat), or convert to double for when fewer people want to ride.

Oh, and I mostly use the special Yakima roof tandem rack for transport. I've fit the tandem completely inside an Acura Integra hatchback, but had to take off both wheels and there wasn't much room left.

Finally, I agree on the test ride point. Our first tandem ride was terrifying. Luckily, we had friends who let us borrow their tandem for a few months so we could really get a feel for whether we like riding them.


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## jalopy jockey (Jun 7, 2007)

cmckim said:


> How close are you to Lansing? I can't volunteer him myself, but my brother-in-law is there and has four tandems right now.


Not close by most peoplesa terms but not unthinkably far. over an hour though closer to 2 i think. I'll PM you if I can't get a hit on MMBA, but I probably will. Or stop a couple that rides through my sub every weekend.


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## themanmonkey (Nov 1, 2005)

I didn't notice you saying that you had actually ridden a tandem yet. If not I would really recommend renting one before buying. I love riding tandems and my wife loves the IDEA of riding tandems. I used to work for Bike Friday and we took all kinds of tandems out a bunch of times; I also used to own a Burley Rock'n'Roll. She could never really commit herself to the loss of control and never felt comfortable enough to captain.

I'm going to build a tandem frame in the next year just so I have one to use with my niece and nephew. Tandems are great, but some folks have big problems releasing control to the captain. Good luck.


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## jalopy jockey (Jun 7, 2007)

No we haven't done a test ride yet. I was trying to get an idea of what kind to look for for our uses, if people with the experience thought it would help our issue of towing kids.


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## elsievo (Sep 13, 2005)

I will echo the tandem being the great equalizer. It's about the only way my wife will go out and do a ride other than to the store. We started with a used Cannondale MT2000. The frame is a bit too large for us but worked well on roads and rail trails.

Renting/borrowing one a couple of times will give you an idea of how well it will work for you and some things to look for in fit components, etc. when you go to purchase.

As for transportation . . . there are tandem racks. I believe yakima and thule make rooftop racks, Draftmaster makes a rear rack that holds the bike nearly verticle.

I have used a cheapy rear rack to hold ours, just have to take the wheels off and put them in the vehicle. Leaves only a couple of inches sticking out on either side of our Subaru.


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## tductape (Mar 31, 2008)

http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=44

Try this forum, more road related. 
Get the double. Bet you will love it. We passed a family two weeks ago with the same set up you are asking about. They looked to be having a blast.

Tailwinds to Ya,
T


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## jalopy jockey (Jun 7, 2007)

Aemmer said:


> http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=44
> 
> Try this forum, more road related.
> Get the double. Bet you will love it. We passed a family two weeks ago with the same set up you are asking about. They looked to be having a blast.
> ...


Sweet, would have been better if they passed you, but then again maybe you are one fast cat. I regularly pass people with my current rig for me and the 2 kids. Then again there are those on the MUTs that think a 5 mile ride is an acomplishement and then there are those of us whose kids say what a short ride after 10 well the one who can talk.

Thanks for the link. It is defiantly more road and they seem to have a thing against 26inch wheels though.

I just happened to walk into my local Cannondale dealer today and guess what they were building up next to the counter, a pretty blue Cannondale street tandem that we think is the right size for us. We will be taking it for a test ride once they get er done.


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## jalopy jockey (Jun 7, 2007)

Well we took one for a test ride at the LBS today and within a few minutes we ride over their curb through some rocks off another curb into the pothole heaven on the next parking lot. Not quite single track but it sure gave us a feel for how that bike would behave on the rough stuff.


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