Beginning Tandem!

MikeyOz said:

Hi,

just would like some initial advice, im looking at doing a tour with me wife somewhere (not sure yet), and neither of us have ridden a tandem bike, in fact I have no idea about them all.

Do they work where both power is transferred to forward movement, is it a combination, should the better ride side up front or on the back, etc ??

And can you genenerally hire tandem bikes for week/weeks etc ??

Or if purchasing what would be a good initial buy ? inexpensive, yet reliable, we will not be setting land speed records, and something that would have room for paniers and gear ?

any advice appreciated.

cheers
Mikey

Mikey-
Riding tandem can be the best or worst experience, I suggest before you set of on a tour with your wife, you find a tandem to buy or use locally and see if you both enjoy it. I enjoy riding solo and tandem, riding tandem I don't have to keep waiting up for my wife and she's always within chatting distance. The larger and stronger of the two should be the "Captain" (in front) and the smalleer the "Stoker" (in back). Tandems range in price from about $500
(piece of junk bike found in sporting goods stores) to over $10,000 (Titanium Santana). We started on one of the piece of craps and quickly moved up to a used Sanatana Soveirgn aluminum frame. Sanatana has a great range of beautiful tandems. They only make tandems and are regarded as the best. I'm not sure of their web site, but I would look them up and see if they do rentals, most bike companies don't, but I think I recall that they might. You may try searching for cylcing tour outfits that supply tandems, they may rent one to you. I hope this helps

MikeyOz said:

Hi,

just would like some initial advice, im looking at doing a tour with me wife somewhere (not sure yet), and neither of us have ridden a tandem bike, in fact I have no idea about them all.

Do they work where both power is transferred to forward movement, is it a combination, should the better ride side up front or on the back, etc ??

And can you genenerally hire tandem bikes for week/weeks etc ??

Or if purchasing what would be a good initial buy ? inexpensive, yet reliable, we will not be setting land speed records, and something that would have room for paniers and gear ?

any advice appreciated.

cheers
Mikey

See if any of the tours that Santana is doing sound interesting:
<http://www.santanainc.com/vacations.html>
Some useful tandem sites:

http://home.att.net/~thetandemlink/ is a collection of links and articles about tandems.

http://sheldonbrown.com/tandem.html is SheldonBrown's set of pages about tandems.

http://www-acs.ucsd.edu/home-pages/wade/tandem.html, the TandemAtHobbes mail list.

Most, but not all tandems, tie your pedaling cadence together through a Synch Chain.... so your teamwork applies to a combined output.

The Santana website is very limited, but their catalog and products are excellent. I know they have a strong marketing pitch in their catalog, but I think that it is still worthwhile reading. You can order a catalog from their website.
Tandem rentals are not readily available in the shops I have see. Most of the tandem rentals I have seen would be acceptable for a 10 mile ride, but not a tour. Since we own a tandem I haven't given rental a good look.

Tandems can bring riders closer together .... or they can drive them apart. Even with very experienced riders they don't always work. Riding hills for the first time is quite a learning experience, as is starting, turning, and stopping.
As you crest your first hill you will feel like someone has gotten behind you and is pushing.
I suggest you find a dealer that carries quality tandems and see if you can get a test ride or two. It really helps if you can get the feel of it for a week or two. It takes time to get the teamwork thing going well.

MikeyOz said:

Hi,

just would like some initial advice, im looking at doing a tour with me wife somewhere (not sure yet), and neither of us have ridden a tandem bike, in fact I have no idea about them all.

Do they work where both power is transferred to forward movement, is it a combination, should the better ride side up front or on the back, etc ??

And can you genenerally hire tandem bikes for week/weeks etc ??

Or if purchasing what would be a good initial buy ? inexpensive, yet reliable, we will not be setting land speed records, and something that would have room for paniers and gear ?

any advice appreciated.

cheers
Mikey

Hi Mickey, I've just joined the forum and having a special interest in Tandems and being in Melbourne I thought I'd pass on some info which you have probably already discovered. Beach Road Cycles in Brighton specializes in tandems and has them for hire. Regarding touring, on most of the big cyle tours - Great Victorian Bike Ride, NSW Big Ride, and Cycle Queensland, there are opportunities to have your own bikes carried and hire a tandem for the day.
Hope you're already enjoyng your own tandem.

Hi

I am looking for a tandem that would suit a small captain, about 5ft. Are such tandems available in Australia?

johnv said:

Hi

I am looking for a tandem that would suit a small captain, about 5ft. Are such tandems available in Australia?

Probably not a conventional large MTB wheel tandem, but maybe a Bike Friday tandem. Give Epic Cycles in Brisbane a call. Good Luck.

pegasus_pete said:

Probably not a conventional large MTB wheel tandem, but maybe a Bike Friday tandem. Give Epic Cycles in Brisbane a call. Good Luck.

thanks

I had looked at the bike friday tandem but forgot that Epic cycles are a dealer. I will contact them today. The other possibily is the co-motion periscope but I would have to import that.

John v

[quote="MikeyOz"]Hi,

Hi MikeyOz

We have just come back from touring on our tandem for 5 weeks in France and a week in Austria. It is the best way to tour as a couple. We met a few couples who were still touring in their 60's and have a great time.
If you tour staying in accomodation which would be the best place to start, we just take 2 rear panniers with about 14kgs of gear. We did this for NZ in 2003. Our last trip was the first time we have travelled carrying our camping gear and we had a ball. A photo of our tandem fully laden is here.

Pete from Beach road cycles are a good place to start. We have a Santana Sovereign that is 13 yrs old a and a fairly new Co-motion Mocha Co-pilot and have been touring for 15yrs on tandems.
As to what to buy, check out Canondale, Trek and the pegasus Duet. Tandems need a stiff frame as when you get better cordinated its nice to be able to stand when going up a hill and flexy frames aren't fun. The fork needs to be Tandem rated" as a normal fork flex's to much under braking. I've ridden a Cannondale a few years ago that the owner had fitted disc brakes to and the fork shuddered under braking. Scary!
It depends on what size you both are as to wether or not a standard frame will fit you. Try to get one that has a long top tube for the stoker. Our Santana only has a 27" tt and our Mocha we had made with a 30" top tube which means my better half has a lot more room to stretch out.
Depending on how many km's you do , tandems eat parts. With the extra load that gets placed on wheels and gears if the parts aren't up to the job you will be forever shelling out for new parts. Good wheels are the most important parts after the frame.
The links that daveornee gave are a great place to start.

Cheers

Geoff