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Tandemania
 

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

8/17/13 4:40 PM

Tandemania

Had some fun today. I have some people coming to visit over Labor Day, including a niece who wants to go on a bike ride. None of my bikes would fit, so I figured I'd borrow one from a friend or the LBS or whatever, but then I thought, the tandem!

I have a beautiful old ('85) Rodriguez fillet brazed tandem, which my wife and I rode, but hasn't been used in awhile. I was pleased that it was pretty much ready to go, just pumped up the tires, oiled the chains, and wiped it off.

In the process I appreciated a pretty funky setup, some original, some modified over the years for various reasons. It has Sugino cranks (triple) with a 7 speed 12-21 freewheel I put on for a race, Shimano XT derailleurs operated with 600 downtube shifters set to friction. Wheels are Wolber Superchampion rims with Phil hubs, Conti 27 x 1 1/4 SuperSport tires, and a million spokes (48 I think). Mafac cantis. A honkin' Salsa 150 stem (I used to ride pretty stretched out). Rear rack with a big red Karrimor saddlebag. SR platform pedals with Cristophe clips on back, Campy on front.

Looking forward to getting this baby on the road, and I think we'll be able to make some pretty good time as my niece, while not a cyclist, is light and recently ran a marathon.

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dfcas
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 2815
Location: hillbilly heaven

8/17/13 5:25 PM

I don't have a tandem at the present time, and I kinda miss it. When I had one, we didn't ride it much, but its nice for a change of pace.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

8/17/13 6:07 PM

We tried Tandems thrice. I think all 26ers was a mistake. I like it better now that Elaine is on her own and riding well. I do push her up some stuff when I hear the HRM alarm go. But I am starting to think she played with the high limit on the alarm...

Luckily, we lost $ on the first one, broke even on the second, and made a few hundred on the 3rd. Tandems seem like boats, except instead of tossing the coin into the ocean, it evaporates into the air I think... The biggest pain was it being in the way usually, and getting it to places if you are not heading out from the driveway can be challenging...

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Brian Nystrom
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 5096
Location: Nashua, NH

8/18/13 6:25 AM

My girlfriend and I...

...love each other too much to ever ride a tandem. ;-)

I the kayaking world, they refer to tandems as "divorce boats" and I feel the same way about tandem bikes. I'm glad that they work for some people, but they wouldn't for us.

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Evan Marks
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 1652
Location: NYC

8/18/13 1:21 PM

My GF and I...

...have our worst arguments in the car. Just the other day I joked that we hadn't driven anywhere in quite a while, maybe we should get a tandem so we could fight about nothing.

Pffttt, no way.

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

8/18/13 5:11 PM

some progress

Well today I replaced the "racing" freewheel (actually a 12-22) with the more realistic 13-28 6 speed that was on it previously, switched the DT shifters to index, and I'm clicking. Kind of nostalgic - fossil that I am I'm still more comfortable with freewheels than cassettes.

Tandems definitely have their pluses and minuses for relationships. The big advantage is that riders of much different strength/experience can ride together quite well. I rode a time trial with my wife (otherwise a non-cyclist) on the back, and it went well. Of course, "relationship issues" can be magnified. A friend had a tandem that also had a set of brakes that his wife could operate. He eventually set those brakes so that the pads barely grazed the rims.

But the tandem will be perfect for my niece, who will be delighted to sit on the back and pedal like hell.

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Nick Payne
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 2625
Location: Canberra, Australia

8/18/13 5:20 PM

We (my wife and I) have been riding tandems for a bit over 30 years - everything from racing to month long cycletours. The Northern Territory is the only part of Australia that we haven't toured by tandem. She particularly likes riding the tandem rather than one of her own bikes on windy days, when she would otherwise have problems staying with the bunch. We also take the tandem on the eyeballs-out weekly Saturday morning training ride - it finishes with a gallop over about half a dozen kilometres - as we start to approach this point, the riders start queueing up to get the sit on our back wheel.

A couple of tandem touring photos at opposite ends of the continent - South-West Tasminia and Northern Queensland

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

8/18/13 5:22 PM

Nick. crank phasing ??

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Garvin
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 193
Location: NH Seacoast

8/18/13 7:01 PM

Bring it (and the 12-22) to D2R2!

Would be a hoot! A knee-throbbing, back breaking hoot but a hoot nonetheless!

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

8/18/13 7:15 PM

Will do Garvin

You're on the back.

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Nick Payne
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 2625
Location: Canberra, Australia

8/19/13 2:34 AM


quote:
crank phasing ??

For touring, where we're not (or hardly ever) sprinting, we have the cranks out of phase. Seems to work better, particularly when climbing, plus it puts less stress on the whole drivetrain. The racing tandem has the cranks in phase - actually, not quite in phase, seems to work best for sprinting with the captains cranks a couple of teeth in advance of the stoker's. It feels quite odd for the first few minutes when going from in phase to out of phase, or vice versa, but then the brain adapts. Here's a photo of the racing tandem with the cranks almost in phase:

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Brian Nystrom
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 5096
Location: Nashua, NH

8/19/13 4:55 AM

Dan...

...make sure you eat eggs and beans for breakfast. That'll teach him!

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SteveS
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 954
Location: Indiana

8/21/13 2:15 PM

Relationships


quote:
"...love each other too much to ever ride a tandem. ;-)

I the kayaking world, they refer to tandems as "divorce boats" and I feel the same way about tandem bikes."


The term I always heard and like better is "relationship acellerators". Whatever direction the two of you are headed the tandem will get you there quicker.

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Brian Nystrom
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 5096
Location: Nashua, NH

8/22/13 5:09 AM

Well, it's been 12 years...

...and she's still putting up with me, so I'm pretty sure this one will last. Provided, of course, that we don't do "tandem" anything. ;-)

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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC

8/22/13 7:53 AM


quote:
In the kayaking world, they refer to tandems as "divorce boats" and I feel the same way about tandem bikes.

I never owned a tandem, bike or kayak. But I've done quite many times of both (it's only in California you can easily rent a tandem bike!)

For bike, it worked GREAT! I don't recall ever having ANY arguement while on bike. (yes, there's complain of not calling out the bumps, but I solved that by getting a shim for my MTB suspension seatpost to fit the seat tube of the rental tandem). We went places on the tandem that my partner would have never been able to go to without putting in a lot of training. And we blast down mountain passes at high speed and my stoker enjoyed it.

(even though my partner was taller and heavier than me, we choose to put the smaller rider up front because my stoker believe I was a better bike handler! -- actually, it's the shifting that I was better at...)

On tandem kayak, it didn't work half as well. It went like this:
"let's go over there"
"sure"
"No, over THERE!".
Ooops, the bird the front seater wanted to photograph had long gone! (or, we got hung up on a sand bar!)

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