# World's Fastest Tandem Mountain Bike



## DHMASTER (Oct 12, 2010)

I've been trying to find the World record for the fastest tandem mountain bike down a dirt or snow slope. The record for a single bike was set this year in france at 138mph. If any of you have any ideas how to find any info on this I would appreciate it. I have written to Guinness and filled out an application to set a record but it will be some time before I get any information on that. If there is an existing record I hope it's not too close to 138...


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## Sanchofula (Dec 30, 2007)

Have you watched the video of Barone's crash on Cerro ***** when his fork broke?

Building a tandem to survive those stresses would be tough.

I think you're crazy, and the guy who rides behind you must have a death wish, but I'll watch your run on video...


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## DHMASTER (Oct 12, 2010)

I don't think it was a good idea for his bike to be Carbon on that volcano, mine will be steel. My stoker said to me, "If we're going to keep doing this fast, dangerous tandem stuff we should do something that will get us laid...... We should set a world record." And I was wondering how I was going to convince him to go for a record.


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## Sanchofula (Dec 30, 2007)

DHMASTER said:


> I don't think it was a good idea for his bike to be Carbon on that volcano, mine will be steel. My stoker said to me, "If we're going to keep doing this fast, dangerous tandem stuff we should do something that will get us laid...... We should set a world record." And I was wondering how I was going to convince him to go for a record.


Laid out in a pine box 

I have this vision of your boom ripping in half, each of you riding a wheelie... it'd make a great video.

I once worked for a contractor who was a speed skier, he did the big runs in Chile. He was crazy.


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## ki5ka (Dec 17, 2006)

I'm thinking you will be breaking new ground, so your speed, whatever it is, will be the record. Two wins, no record to beat, and the first in the record books! I say go for it!


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## DHMASTER (Oct 12, 2010)

You may be right about it being new ground. I really want to do more than 100. That's bucket list for me, 100+ bike and 200+ moto. I am afraid of the whole thing but 100 doesn't seem that fast any more. We will see.


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## DHMASTER (Oct 12, 2010)

Just need a tandem version of this.


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## DHMASTER (Oct 12, 2010)

Speed is fun.


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

Not to take anything away from the Tioga run. My wife / stoker refused to pedal, and locked the pedals as we came to almost 50mph on the road tandem coming down the roads around Lake Tahoe. We too passed cars. 

For fear of my death I followed her wishes and 50 was enough for her. Honestly, it was probably smart as we were not in moto road race gear but pretty much lycra undies.

I would suspect that with no extra effort those hills on a road tandem would be good for close to 80mph. Simply a lot of faith in the tires, wheels and hopefully no headshake...


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## DHMASTER (Oct 12, 2010)

Which Tahoe road do you think would be good for 80? Tioga is only 8 percent at it's steep spots. I know there are faster, steeper roads I just need to try them. We spin out at about 45mph, so this isn't about pedaling.


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## Ciclistagonzo (Dec 10, 2001)

DHMASTER said:


> Which Tahoe road do you think would be good for 80? Tioga is only 8 percent at it's steep spots. I know there are faster, steeper roads I just need to try them. We spin out at about 45mph, so this isn't about pedaling.


Monitor Pass on 89 Descending into 395 is considerably steeper than Tioga, I hit 54mph on my single mtb way back in early 2000's. And I only started descending about a 1/2 way down as we had ridden out of Slinkard Valley.


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## Sanchofula (Dec 30, 2007)

DHMASTER said:


> Which Tahoe road do you think would be good for 80? Tioga is only 8 percent at it's steep spots. I know there are faster, steeper roads I just need to try them. We spin out at about 45mph, so this isn't about pedaling.


None of them, wind resistance will slow you down, none of the Tahoe grades are steep enough to put you much over 60mph. You'd have to run really tall gears and push your way to those speeds.

I ran all the grades in Tahoe on bike and on roller blade back in the eighties, coming off Mt Rose Hwy into the Lake is good, but traffic would make it dangerous; shoulders are wide. The steep side of My Rose is heading into Reno.

Dropping down into Carson City from South Shore is a good road, but again not that steep.

The problem with steep is they usually involve turns, 60+ on a tandem into a hairpin is an accident looking for a place to happen.


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## ki5ka (Dec 17, 2006)

Seems like a fairing would make sense if you want more speed; an alternative to a steeper road.

These look scary as sht, Lightning Cycle Dynamics - Welcome! wobbling all over the place, but I think that's because they're sitting up. Pretty simple concept, seems it could be adapted pretty easily to your bike. Maybe start with a ZZ Thriller fairing...


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## DHMASTER (Oct 12, 2010)

Thanks, that could be a nice addition. Still waiting to see what if any guidelines guinness provides. I have a small fairing like that on my gravity bike, the other thing we could use is a tailpiece.


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## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

DHMASTER said:


> I don't think it was a good idea for his bike to be Carbon on that volcano, mine will be steel. My stoker said to me, "If we're going to keep doing this fast, dangerous tandem stuff we should do something that will get us laid...... We should set a world record." And I was wondering how I was going to convince him to go for a record.


Man, if you guys are that hard up for clam, going WFO down a hill in a tandem isn't going to help you.


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

Nurse Ben said:


> None of them, wind resistance will slow you down, none of the Tahoe grades are steep enough to put you much over 60mph. You'd have to run really tall gears and push your way to those speeds.
> 
> I ran all the grades in Tahoe on bike and on roller blade back in the eighties, coming off Mt Rose Hwy into the Lake is good, but traffic would make it dangerous; shoulders are wide. The steep side of My Rose is heading into Reno.
> 
> ...


We do not live out there, and it was a one time event for us. As for the speed coming down the hills, no doubt the wind drag will go up. Thing is though, wind drag or not, our runs down the hills had us on the road tandem, overtaking single road bikes with riders fully tucked in. I was actually surprised that our speed difference was at least 10 mph but seemed even more, probably 15mph as we closed in and over took the singles. This was just coasting.

My greatest fear was the tires. Outside of that, if it was dedicated speed run with all the right gear and gearing, I would expect two strong riders to be able to run very fast.

Consider though, this was not on an MTB, our Co-Motion has 203mm discs front and rear. The tires were not super fast being Gatorskin 28's.

Yes the cars were a problem, and certainly in places slowed things down.

I tend to agree with the other guy, this is not a smart move to meet girls...learn to play guitar, much safer and more girls.

PK


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

No doubt I am wrong, but this is an idea of the route we rode, plus out to Truckee and back. While the percent of grade is not super high %, we were at speed very quickly.

This was NOT our Strava data, something I grabbed to show the terrain / distance profile.
https://www.strava.com/activities/269916368

PK


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## DHMASTER (Oct 12, 2010)

Well, Guinness wrote back. They said that after extensive research they have decided that we should set a speed of 200kph or 125mph+, in order to set the record, even though there is no existing record. 125 is pretty darn close to 138, we're going all in. Our new goal is to be the fastest bike period. I've applied for the record on dirt as well, so we'll have to go and try not to crash on one of those volcano runs. Nervous, yes. Already thinking of ways to up our survivability. I think there's a run in Hawaii that we may hit first.


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## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

May death be swift and the suffering kept to a minimum!


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## reamer41 (Mar 26, 2007)

DHMASTER said:


> Well, Guinness wrote back. They said that after extensive research they have decided that we should set a speed of 200kph or 125mph+, in order to set the record, even though there is no existing record. 125 is pretty darn close to 138, we're going all in. Our new goal is to be the fastest bike period. I've applied for the record on dirt as well, so we'll have to go and try not to crash on one of those volcano runs. Nervous, yes. Already thinking of ways to up our survivability. I think there's a run in Hawaii that we may hit first.


I hope you're going to be using motorcycle tires, brakes, fork, etc....

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## DHMASTER (Oct 12, 2010)

I'm just too excited. I want to go to Cerro ***** next month. Top speed of any bike is only 107mph. I think the only motorcycle parts that we'll use is a rear brake and rotor. Otherwise maybe a small windscreen. 



 . That's us going 67mph down an 8% mountain road with me holding back. We're going to a 90% slope. If we make it to the bottom, I'm pretty sure we'll find that extra 40mph.


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

Sorry, but excited or not, that is around twice the speed already done by you two. All the best with it.


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## tductape (Mar 31, 2008)

Great fun! Enjoyed the video.


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## Sanchofula (Dec 30, 2007)

This reminds me of my youth, trying to make cars with little engines go faster, it was expensive to try and pull so much from so little. Going fast means little, you can take your typical family sedan to 125mph on a straight stretch of highway. I did 160mph on a motorcycle, 140mph in my Camaro, it's nothing special. It's not speed that thrills, it's the potential cost if you mess up. 

Going to the ground at 125mph on that tandem will destroy it, and one or both of you is gonna be messed up.

Silliness like this doesn't really belong on this forum, this is not mountain tandem related, why not go stir up the tandem roadbikers, they ought to love the idea


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## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

^ Said the nurse!


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## bugshield (Jun 22, 2012)

I'll chime in just to say that I've found it pretty easy to approach 60mph in a tuck on a road tandem and near impossible to exceed it. 

This comes not from seeking speed so much as running mountains while saving the brakes for the NEED to stop or slow down. No sense heating up the wheels when the air will gladly keep us in control.


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## DHMASTER (Oct 12, 2010)

Looks like my first trip to the volcano will be next month on a single bike with my stoker there as support. I'll go for the prototype record on a faired M-1 with a few other modifications. I guess that's not tandem related, but when we go back with the big bike, somehow I do see that as Tandem Mountain Bike related. I don't see much need for any of you to be upset by the nature of this thread. It's all supposed to be for fun. I know that I'm going to have fun and some great experiences.


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## Mountain Cycle Shawn (Jan 19, 2004)

DHMASTER said:


> Looks like my first trip to the volcano will be next month on a single bike with my stoker there as support. I'll go for the prototype record on a faired M-1 with a few other modifications. I guess that's not tandem related, but when we go back with the big bike, somehow I do see that as Tandem Mountain Bike related. I don't see much need for any of you to be upset by the nature of this thread. It's all supposed to be for fun. I know that I'm going to have fun and some great experiences.


And to top it off, you might just eat your wiener! Let's hope not!


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## ki5ka (Dec 17, 2006)

DHM, I can't imagine any other more appropriate place for you to post your experience than this forum. I don't have any objections to you posting your experience here. I have enjoyed all your posts that push the boundaries of tandem mountain biking. Cheers!


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