# "Fishtail" Feel?



## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

So I finally got The Wife on the tandem again. This time we went around the block once. I noticed a fishtail-y feel when we pedaled. Is this normal? I think she might have been throwing her weight around or something. Her pedaling isn't the smoothest to begin with, but it felt really noodly.

I have ridden the beast alone and did not notice and swaying, so i don't think its the rear wheel. It appears to be true and round.


----------



## danl1 (Jul 23, 2005)

That's just part of having an inexperienced stoker. On the bright side, it also means she was contributing - probably more than needed. Can be a very unnerving feeling, though. Mostly it's just a weird sensation, and as long as I don't try to fight against it, everything ends up fine. 

To the extent that it's not causing a danger, I recommend sucking it up and easing into the concepts of keeping a still body and smooth stroke slowly. Those are the sort of conversations that are easy to get wrong. Meanwhile, call coasts when you have some technical stuff to steer through.

When my wife and I were on one of our earliest rides, we were headed around a greater-than-90 right turn. I planned to take it a little wide, but a car coming up the new street meant I had to take it tighter than planned. Wife chose my 'Whoa' as a signal to lean and look high-side - essentially locking the bike into a straight path toward the driver's door. A crazy bit of lean and countersteer brought us around, but that soon became a 'teachable' moment for staying in line with the bike and using full pedal strokes.


----------



## buck-50 (Sep 20, 2005)

Something that helped me with a similar issue was checking the inflation on the tires- AFAIK tires on something as heavy as a tandem need a little bit more pressure.


----------



## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

thanks for the responses guys.

i did think the pressure in the rear tire might have had something to do with it. i still need to get in there and replace the tire and tube. that will be interesting, as i havent had to prop up the back end of a ike that long before.

dan: the leaning thing is weird, too. i noticed a "floating" feel when we went around corners. i think she leaned opposite of what i was. and i wasnt leaning much at all, so im trying to turn right and she is leaning the bike away. 

because she mentioned she didng like not being in control, i thought about letting her be the pilot next time to see what she thinks. i just hope that doesnt end up with us surfing the pavement.


----------

