# High Performance Tandeming?



## Lelandjt (Sep 11, 2008)

My girlfriend and I are racers but getting involved in tandeming because I worked with Bill Shook on his Santana Tandems Hawaii tour and will be helping again with his Mississippi tour. Obviously most tandem teams are parent/child or husband/wife of disparate riding abilities who enjoy being able to ride together. The setups I've seen have all leaned toward comfort and practicality. But, I'm curious if anyone here has a tandem setup for speed and how fast you're able go. My GF loves drafting me really close and being able to go nearly pro man speed but we're both curious how fast we could go on a racy tandem. Do you think we could do rides or segments faster than I can solo? I'd love to see pics of your racy tandems too. If any of you plan on doing tours with Santana we both look forward to meeting you and joining in a decidedly non-performance cruise!

P.S. What's the policy of using Strava on a tandem? My GF had me ask that question cuz she thinks that if she's in front we can race the women

P.P.S. Girl on top? Do any tandem teams here ride with the girl in front? The first thing she asked was if she can ride in front and of course I said "sure". I'm 6'2" 170lb, she's 5'7" probably 125-130lb. Would it handle funny? We'd probably actually ride with me in front (more experienced rider, better at shifting, braking, line choice, handling traffic) but I'm just curious if anyone here lets the lady or smaller rider lead.


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## Local Hero (Jul 8, 2010)

What are the strava rules for motorpacing? (Who cares?) I figure it's the same for tandems. Actually, I took a KOM on a tandem and have no regrets. 

Just put the more experienced, better bike handler in the front. Unless the smaller rider owns the bike and demands little spoon. Here's a smaller guy in front:


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## Cyclo-phile (Sep 22, 2005)

There's a very active tandem board on BikeForums with a number of riders on performance bikes.

My wife and I have a separate Strava account for our tandem rides and I added "tandem" in our name. We are categorized as a male, but Strava has been petitioned to open up additional categories to recognize tandem teams. There is also a Strava Tandem Club.

We're pretty new to tandeming, but I'd guess that the 2 of us can go 10-15% faster than I do solo.










This currently sits at 31.5 pounds, but I'll have it sub-30 by the time warm weather gets here again.


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## Lelandjt (Sep 11, 2008)

That begs the question, what's the lightest tandem you've seen?


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## Cyclo-phile (Sep 22, 2005)

As mentioned, my tandem experience is limited, but there are a handful of sub-25 lb. Calfee and Paketa bikes out there. This is probably the lightest at 22 lbs. 7oz. though:

What's your tandem weigh? - Page 15


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