# Mountain Tandems.....



## Lutarious (Feb 8, 2005)

Anyone have any experience with them? My girlfriend and I just got a very nice used Ibis "uncle Fester." So far we have just a couple of rides on the road and one little excursion in the dirt, and we are loving it. She had road/cross tires on her until we flatted the front today (at something like 30 MPH) The tires were old and toasty, so I chucked them and put on a set of Richey Z-Max I had lying around. We're going to do a better loop, all dirt tomorrow adn I will post some pictures. So far so good.


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## jonlong (Sep 29, 2004)

I rode a really nice Cannondale mountain tandem on the trails around here. I rode in the back, and it was really scary, but in a good way. I would definitely do it again if I had the chance.


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## sparrow (Dec 30, 2003)

*Tandems are great fun!*

Tandems are a "relationship accelorator".... no matter where your relationship is heading, riding a tandem will get it there faster, really! My wife and I have been riding tandems over 15 years now, our first tandem was an offroad tandem, and it was HER choice to get a $3k tandem over an engagement ring.

Now we have a Ventana El Conquistador FS tandem, 5" travel rear, 6" front, big burly Magura brakes, works great! We've been on singletrack in Brian Head, Moab, Fruita, Sun Valley, Sedona, Crested Butte, Uncompaghre, Black Hills...... just all over the place.

Ride that sucker, then step up to a suspension fork (with a 20mm through axle for sure) and a nice meaty front disc brake. You can ride anywhere that a typical Sport class XC racer type guy can go, and probably more. Just a hoot!


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## screampint (Dec 10, 2001)

*How is the Dynamic Tandem Duo?*

Hope things are well for you two. Say hi to Marta.

To the OP, this is sparrow and the stoker. It's pretty cool to see the two of them out on the trail. Here are two pictures of them.


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## Purple Liquid (Dec 6, 2005)

*Try out this puppy!*


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## Lutarious (Feb 8, 2005)

*Very cool*

Are there two tandems in the second picture? I think it's going to be a while before we attempt leaving the ground. Nevertheless, we are having a ball learning to get over water bars and around trees. Just put regular mountain tires on her, so the riding should get more..... interesting from here out.


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## Dude (Jan 12, 2004)

*I want one*

I rode one at the Sea Otter. We got to ride the El Conquistador and it was a BLAST. I want one SOOOOOOO bad..... If you ever have a chance to own one pull the trigger.. :thumbsup:

-Dude


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## sparrow (Dec 30, 2003)

*Ooooh baby!*

I still don't have a copy of any of those 18 Road tandem jumping photos, thanks for putting that up, 'Pint!

That second photo is actually of 3 tandems coming down Joe's Ridge out at 18 Road in Fruita. Ed and Lisa Engler up front, me (Sparrow) and the Stoker (Marta), and Dirk and Lisa Gustin. All Black Hills riders down for a past Fruita Fat Tire Festival. One year I think there were 7 tandems on one ride, chaos.

The Stoker's good (unemployed, but good) been out on the tandem a bunch lately as fall weather is hanging in there. Plus we have a Husky now (see my Avitar) that needs a daily morning run. The Stoker is currently just that, a Stoker. I sold her half bike, but she doesn't know yet.

I'd be scared to ride those Crossmax XLs on that Ellsworth, I'd want a meatier front wheel, that thing would fold under our 320lb team in short order.


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## brokenbikes (Oct 3, 2006)

Ha! Those things are classic. I've never seen one up close, but a tandem MTB charging down the trail would make me do a double take for sure!

I wonder how many tandem MTBers there are?

I don't doubt that they would be a "relationship accelerator"!


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## sherpaxc (Aug 12, 2005)

where can you find a decent entry level tandem (off-road)? My wife and I have been talking about getting one, but the price my hold us off.


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## wooglin (Jan 6, 2004)

sherpaxc said:


> where can you find a decent entry level tandem (off-road)? My wife and I have been talking about getting one, but the price my hold us off.


I've got a road tandem and frequent tandem listserves as a result. mtbtandems.com's in-house frame, the Fandango, gets pretty good reviews as an entry level ride. Frame only or you can buy it built up.

http://www.mtbtandems.com/fd_tandem_models.html


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## Pinch (Nov 1, 2004)

Purple Liquid said:


>


This is the funnest mountain bike I have ever ridden, bar none! I only wish I had the coin to own one and a really strong stoker who loves to ride as much as me.


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## sparrow (Dec 30, 2003)

*Second that Fandango!*

Fandango off road tandems are ready for real single track right out of the box! There are plenty of used tandems (barely used) littering garages, just a matter of finding the right one at the right time. www.tandemmag.com and www.tandemtour.com and ebay are good starters, craiglist as well. But Fisher, Cannondale, Specialized, Burley, and KHS all made (and Cannondale still does) decent off road tandems, or at least bikes with potential to be off road tandems.

Many older 26" wheel tandems need a swap to lower gears, fatter tires, and a good suspension fork to be singletrack worthy. But dirt jumping and freeride type gear translates well to tandems (20mm thru axle forks, and meaty disc brakes mainly). Most all your braking is up front on a tandem, so adding a modern 20mm thru axle fork and a disc brake is a good idea, mainly for the disc brake.

www.mtbtandems.com is also a great place to do some oogling of off road tandems.

I've bought and sold half a dozen or more used tandems that are off road worthy, and that's just in a town of 50,000 people. So tandem bikes are out there used, plenty of couples thought it would be fun, but found it not so. Makes for good deals at times as they want the thing OUT OF THE GARAGE! It's that relationship accelorator.

Ventana's El Conquistador has sort of set the standard for an FS tandem. Ellsworth's Witness is fine enough, but limited to the one size. With Ventana, you can get what you need/want made to order. 6'6" captain, 5'3" stoker? No problemo.

Our tandem gets used a lot to take out my nephews. Ranging from 8 to 15 and the little guys fit fine and pedal like mad back there.


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## MTBMarkWa (Mar 15, 2004)

*Mountain Tandems are a blast.*

We love riding ours. It adds another layer of excitement, fun, and accomplishment to riding offroad. The Ventana's are probably the most popular and offer the most sizes. Ellsworth's come in one size which just happens to be our size.

I think the question we get asked mosted is what kind of terrian can we ride on it. Pretty much anything you can ride on a single bike that doesn't involve a greater than 6-8 inch step up or 12" step down (high center). Switchbacks are very difficult with some being pretty much impossible.

If you get into offroad tandems, be prepared to break stuff. The stress and torque on these things makes them much more prone to breakage than a single bike. But the fun factor is well worth it.

Here are a few pics:

Noble Canyon:










Stoker bars are rubbing on this tree:










Stand in Stoker Aquaholic:


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## Lutarious (Feb 8, 2005)

*Here's ours*

I think it will see a lot more use on the road, but it is definitely a blast on the trails. We have four rides on it now, and we are pretty much getting the weird stuff figured out. It's like dancing where the stoker has to "follow" the driver when you coast, pedal, ratchet and so on. Driver, of course, has to take the stoker into consideration when making the decisions as well.

Disc brakes and a suspension fork would be nice, but to tell the truth, this fork is one of the best rigid forks I have ever felt. We well see how I feel when I have more money available for parts....


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## Jisch (Jan 12, 2004)

*I'll bet you could get this one cheap...*

This picture was in an article in the local paper a year ago about the rail trail initiative in one of the towns near by. At the risk of sounding callous, I thought about saving the name of the folks on the tandem figuring it would be for sale down the road. I've since lost their name, I'll have to keep my eyes on the classifieds...

John


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## Bigfoot (Jan 16, 2004)

*We love our tandem!*

It's the flagship of our bike fleet. We've had it for years. It's been on some epic mountain bike rides. For off-road I mount up some big downhill tires, a 3.0 Gazzolodi on the front, and a 2.75 Intense on the rear.

It's shown here with some fat slicks. With those big tires and 5" front travel / 3.5" rear travel our rig is a real Caddilac on our crappy Humboldt County roads.

I just built a new rear wheel so that we can have a disk brake using a Shock Therapy disc brake adaptor. I'll post some pics when that whole transformation is complete.

Bigfoot


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## screampint (Dec 10, 2001)

sparrow said:


> I sold her half bike, but she doesn't know yet.


 Better find a replacement...

The Cousin It still hangs in the shop. Not sure where it will end up, but I doubt it will be up for sale any time soon. It's the last of it's kind to roll off the "assembly line" at Ibis.

I've noticed the husky. Pretty dog. All we have is the verry fuzzy pea-brain muffin-head (cat).


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## Hurricane Jeff (Jan 1, 2006)

Off road tandems are awesome. My wife and I have had one since 1991.
We currently own a Ventana El Testigo Experto, which in my opinion is the best tandem availible.
I will post a picture of it once I figure out how to.


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## Pinch (Nov 1, 2004)

MTBMarkWa said:


>


Awesome! Hittin' widow maker on the Witness! How did she handle on the way down? That would be a killer ride on a tandem.


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## MTBMarkWa (Mar 15, 2004)

Pinch said:


> Awesome! Hittin' widow maker on the Witness! How did she handle on the way down? That would be a killer ride on a tandem.


Smooth as could be.. Just need some speed and have to enter it perfectly straight. Barney Rubble is a lot of fun too. That's one of our favorite loops on the tandem for sure.


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## Fat Elvis (Jan 14, 2004)

Any of you tandem owners ever take one out solo? How painful is it to ride one of those by yourself? And if you have, did you sit on the front or the back?


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## Jisch (Jan 12, 2004)

*Haven't done it but...*



Fat Elvis said:


> Any of you tandem owners ever take one out solo? How painful is it to ride one of those by yourself? And if you have, did you sit on the front or the back?


Uh, I think sitting in the back would make steering exceedingly difficult unless you have Stretch Armstrong arms.

John


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## Lutarious (Feb 8, 2005)

*Tandem Solo*

I rode mine around a little. Steers very poorly.... I was thinking of picking up my kid at school on it some day. SHe would either be thrilled or embarrased, and I can't tell which...


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## slaw (Apr 6, 2004)

We are a 2 tandem household. Neither of them are set up for real rugged off-roading, but we have done touring on dirt roads with them, and some gentle single track.

Currently they're both set up for the kid stokers, one with kiddie cranks for the 6YO and the other with crank shorteners for the 9YO. I fairly regularly use them for kid taxiing so I'm often riding them solo. There isn't that much difference from riding a single bike. Off-road solo could be an issue as there would be little traction on the rear wheel.


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## karyg (Feb 11, 2004)

*Here's our ride*

We have got a 2000 KHS Tandamania Comp. As the picture shows I have it set up with crank shorteners and cruiser bars for my youngest son. He is 10 years old and has Downs Syndrome. He loves riding on it. He finally got tall enough to ride it this year and it is a major upgrade from a trail-a-bike. I have added a Girven fork with a heavy spring. The only real drawback of this bike is that I can only get a 2.1 tire on the back and with his light weight the tire spins out on loose climbs.


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