# ok you tandem people



## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

I captained for a 4+ hour ride yesterday. Managed to not dump it, good. Impressions:

- my ass hurts. how are you supposed to stand up on those things?

- the bike was surprisingly maneuverable, once I figured out how to use my stoker's weight to help throw it around

- I hate triple chainrings, or at least this particular setup. I think once out of dozens of downshifts, I managed to hit the middle ring instead of the inner ring. 

- bunny hops are problematic. perhaps better to avoid bumps and potholes?

- we didn't have a speedo (it was a rental) but it didn't really seem like we were going faster than a single (except on downhills).


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## fox_boy (Nov 13, 2007)

FOUR hours on a crappy rental bike seat, I am impressed!! You do know you are allowed to stop and get off it, walk around a little and try to get some blood back in the tush right?  I saw a 67 year old couple on a MUT last night that have put over 100 thousand miles on tandems in their career. Watching them alternate, or jointly stand for hills was a sure pleasure. Smooth is the best word I can use. I cannot do it myself. And bunny hopping, you are the man. I want video!! 
Fox

Oh and I don't believe the captain is suppose to throw the stoker around, or he will find himself riding alone.


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

*- my ass hurts. how are you supposed to stand up on those things?* It is all about teamwork and having a plan, plus lots of practice. Find a gentle climb (with no traffic), be in one gear harder than you should be, the captain counts three downstrokes out loud and the team stands up on "three" (make sure to discuss the whole thing with the stoker before trying this). A bit of practice and the team will be styling. After a while you won't even have to count to three, the captain just says "Up" and and you both stand on the next downstroke. 

*- the bike was surprisingly maneuverable, once I figured out how to use my stoker's weight to help throw it around* Your stoker is a saint.

*- I hate triple chainrings, or at least this particular setup. I think once out of dozens of downshifts, I managed to hit the middle ring instead of the inner ring.* What do you expect for a rental?

*- bunny hops are problematic. perhaps better to avoid bumps and potholes?* Your stoker is a saint. Avoid them as much as you can and tell the stoker when you are about to hit one.

*- we didn't have a speedo (it was a rental) but it didn't really seem like we were going faster than a single (except on downhills).* What do you expect for your first long ride on a rental? It takes teamwork and practice, not to mention experience.


BTW seems to me you did fine.


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## rodar y rodar (Jul 20, 2007)

Well? You took one out, rode it, came home and asked a bunch of questions. But did you enjoy it? How was your ride?

I`m pretty much unqualified to answer most of these questions, but that never stopped me before, so I`ll volunteer some gibberish anyway and you can volunteer to read it if you see fit.


Creakyknees said:


> - my ass hurts. how are you supposed to stand up on those things?
> 
> - the bike was surprisingly maneuverable, once I figured out how to use my stoker's weight to help throw it around
> 
> ...


Standing: I rarely get out of the saddle even on my single, never on the tandem. My stoker can not stand and pedal at the same time even for a few pedal strokes (we`re practicing so that at least the whole drivetrain doesn`t come to a screaching halt every time we approach a bump worth standing for- so far we haven`t managed, but we`re close)

Surprisingly maneuverable: Really? I`m envious about that one.

Triple shifting: We don`t have any trouble there- probably a case of bad maintenance or crappy parts on your rental. We have 3x7 Shimano barends and Sachs FD, older Shimano RD

Bunny hops: When you get that one figured out, please post a video. I try to give warning for most major bumps- sometimes we hit one that I didn`t expect would be worth mentioning and it turns out to be a whopper- whatareyagonnado?


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

Ok thanks for the feedback, that's about what I thought for the most part. 

Good scoop, knowing that at least the double-standing is possible. We got out for about 30 yesterday, and were able to alternate single-standing - with stoker standing it was easy for me to control, if a bit choppy on the pedals. With me standing it was harder but better. Practice I guess.


The rental was a $3400 bike - a CoMotion w/ Ultegra/105 on SRAM cranks, freshly adjusted from the shop... you'd think it would shift right! 

Anyway, my little girl is hooked on tandems now, so I may have to start shopping. I like the CoMotion ok but I really hate the Shimano shifting. Would have to go w/ Campy.


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

Creakyknees said:


> ...Good scoop, knowing that at least the double-standing is possible. .....


On the Santana Danube Tour we took last summer I would guess that well less than half of the teams could stand together, we pulled away from those that couldn't on every hill no matter how small or short. The teams that downshifted for the climbs naturally slowed down (that is what easier gears do), at the same time we would stand and ride right away from them.

Several folks asked for instruction and tips at the end of the day.

With a bit of practice standing together is really simple and IMHO an absolute requirement for any kind of distance or hill riding.


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## android (Nov 20, 2007)

Creakyknees said:


> The rental was a $3400 bike - a CoMotion w/ Ultegra/105 on SRAM cranks, freshly adjusted from the shop... you'd think it would shift right!


What SRAM crank was on there? Or was it a re-badged FSA?


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

yea it was FSA, the bike is a Co-Motion Periscope Scout 700:

http://www.co-motion.com/tandem_bikes/scout_700c.html

except ours has drop bars and Ultegra shifters.

I like the periscope seats, handy for kid to adult. And Velocity Dyad's 36h front and rear, 28c tires. Stout. The steel frame is nicely welded (Tig I guess) and I couldn't really feel any lateral flex though I'm sure it was there, but I did get a bit of vertical flex on the right kind of bumps / humps.


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## Gevorg (Sep 18, 2006)

*it takes couple of ride to get use to tandem riding*

*- my ass hurts. how are you supposed to stand up on those things?*
We do not stand most of the times, but we use "butt breaks" every 20-30min, i.e. mandatory coasting and standing on pedals to get blood flowing

*- the bike was surprisingly maneuverable, once I figured out how to use my stoker's weight to help throw it around*
I used to tell about upcoming turns on twisty road so we can lean the tandem properly, now my stoker just reads my body language on turns and we go into turns a lot faster.

*- I hate triple chainrings, or at least this particular setup. I think once out of dozens of **downshifts, I managed to hit the middle ring instead of the inner ring.* 
We use triple no problem, but I downshift a bit ahead of time, and upshift a bit late then on a single bike, since there will be a lot more tension on tandem drivettain for crisp shifting

*- bunny hops are problematic. perhaps better to avoid bumps and potholes?*
Potholes are to be avoided and warned to stoker, also it is good time to go into "butt break" before potholes and coast and stand on pedals to prevent excessive jarring of stoker

*- we didn't have a speedo (it was a rental) but it didn't really seem like we were going faster than a single (except on downhills).*
We usualy go faster on non technical downhills and flat sections, we are little bit slow on the steep hills, but after some training we actually go faster on tandem then on single bikes on most of the routes that do not have climbs more then 4% grades and hairpin turns. We always pull on a tandem in a paceline during group rides with single bikes.


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## George1956 (Jun 9, 2009)

*Standing on a tandem*

Standing on a tandem is easer if you have your cranks 90Deg. out of phase.


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## rdtompki (Nov 28, 2008)

George (1956) (and with apologies for this highjack) - I'll try the 90 deg out of phase for standing. My wife and I are new to tandeming and working on standing. We have a daVinci so we can be in any phase we want and sometimes in a phase we don't want.

BTW, in our limited experience Tandems are clearly faster than singles. I'm stronger than my wife and our tandem is already faster than I am on a single and we're not even experienced. Once we get stronger on the hills there will be no comparison because on anything less than a +2% grade to say nothing of downhills we're much faster.


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## Starliner (Mar 7, 2002)

I'm a relative newbie to tandeming so feel free to disagree, but to me standing is all about syncronization between cap'n and stok'r. My stoker and I are getting pretty good at it with standard cranks. I found that we work best when I give her the control over our standing together, as well as when we sit. This is because she can see me, and I cannot see her. Since she can see me, she knows at about the time I will stand (or sit), and therefore is better positioned to match my body movement than I am hers. I still will tell her when I want to stand, and she then initiates our pedal stroke countdown to standing.

IMO it's good to give a stoker some control once in a while on the ride. Off the bike, well.....


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## bsdc (Feb 15, 2002)

My girlfriend isn't so coordinated and athletic. We've tried standing and pedaling but she doesn't like it. So, on occasion, we alternatingly stand while we coast. We also like to get off the bike for a minute or two ever 10 miles or so. It really took me a while to get over the idea that I had to blow through the miles like it was a race. Tandeming with my girlfriend has taught me to sit back and enjoy the ride.


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