Tandem touring - why would you?

[Clare]

Serious question.


As two able bodied people on solos you can carry more stuff, travel at your own pace, sing the Eton Boating Song at the top of your voice without annoying El Capitano and be in control of your own destiny.


So, why tour on a tandem?

[toekneep]

I suspect you get to talk to a lot more people because you're a bit weird.

/edit

No offence intended. 

[Clare]

I suspect you get to talk to a lot more people because you're a bit weird.

/edit

No offence intended. 

I suspect that's already the case 

[Oscar's dad]

We've talked about this haven't we.

Nobody gets left behind
The captain gets his / her bum pinched by the stoker
Tandeming requires more skill than solos so is more satisfying
It's a fantastic couple experience and enhances your overall relationship
More people are nice to you

You un Vern need to try it. Also, I as you are both similar in height I suspect you could get a machine that you could both captain / stoke which is an unusual and added bonus.

[Wascally Weasel]

I think that riding tandem is an excellent way for two riders of mixed ability to cycle together.

Ms Weasel and I communicate better on the tandem and generally have a better time than we do if we ride solo together.

[Kathy]

Easier to chat to each other.
Easier to start up random conversations with strangers.
Easier to push your luck (the "unusual" factor means that people often let you get away with breaking "no bikes" or "campsite full" rules).
Easier to ride further (two people's power, one person's resistance).

...and of course, when the inevitable argument happens (usually by day four with us) it means that one rider can't storm off in a huff and leave the other behind. 

[Charlotte]

Also, it's even more fun than riding solos. 

Which is, for me, what it's all about 

[Julian]

You don't need that much stuff to go touring.  We managed fine with a pannier each for three and a bit weeks' touring in America, plus personal effects (wallet / phone / toothbrush) in rackpack or barbag, plus sleeping bags bungeed onto the rack.

On solos I found I took just as much stuff as both of us took to the States. 

I like riding tandem 'cos it means I don't get left behind up the hills, so I don't have a mammoth sulk, so everything is groovy. 

[citoyen]

My brother and his wife went round the world by tandem. I think it's the only way she could have kept up with him. Also, two people one one bike will be faster than two people on two bikes.

For extra luggage space, you can hitch a trailer and still have fewer wheels than two bikes.

Tandem touring makes a lot of sense to me. If only I could persuade my wife...

d.

[Rig of Jarkness]

Plus points -
we can ride and chat without having to constantly single out for traffic.  
neither of us is having to ride in the spray of the other's back wheel
Mrs C can look around and see more of the views as she not having to concentrate on the road
I get to win all the hill primes and sprints  

Minus points -
More difficult to get on trains
More potential for 'mechanicals' - things seem to break/wear out on tandems at at least twice the rate of a solo.  And if things are terminal one of you can't ride off to get assistance - you're both stuck.
Less space for luggage
Tandems can be quite unforgiving on bums as you're not getting out of the saddle and the stoker especially gets a lot of jolts from the road. After several days this can become an issue !

[teethgrinder]

Cos it's fun.

Easier to ride further (two people's power, one person's resistance).

Not always. Sometimes it's one person's power and the weight of two riders. And it's usualy the one who can't pedal the hardest who is the heaviest.

It's not for everyone though.

[citoyen]

Not always. Sometimes it's one person's power and the weight of two riders. And it's usualy the one who can't pedal the hardest who is the heaviest.

On those occasions, it's still going to be easier for the person doing the work to pull two people along if they're both on the same bike.

d.

[Tim]

Tandems can be quite unforgiving on bums as you're not getting out of the saddle and the stoker especially gets a lot of jolts from the road. After several days this can become an issue !

You can stand up and honk on a tandem (bit of practice and communication). Otherwise just raise your bum when freewheeling.

And remember to call the bumps for your stoker.

[peliroja]

I don't think tandem touring would be for us. We're very evenly-matched, speed-wise and there's one big problem we've experienced* when on a tandem. I become an organic drag brake when I start to laugh, and lose all power to my legs. 

*admittedly, we've only tried it the once.

[Rig of Jarkness]

You can stand up and honk on a tandem (bit of practice and communication). Otherwise just raise your bum when freewheeling.

Yes we have friends who can do that effortlessly.  But after many years of attempting it it just doesn't work for us.

And remember to call the bumps for your stoker.

Yes, I can call most of them but its the few that catch me unawares that do the damage.  Riding long stretches of rough stuff don't help either.  (And yes, Mrs C does have a suspension seatpost).

[Clare]

You un Vern need to try it. Also, I as you are both similar in height I suspect you could get a machine that you could both captain / stoke which is an unusual and added bonus.

We have tried it Vern's a crap stoker, he just goes into panic mode and freezes up so I can't turn the pedals at all and we don't go anywhere and we fall off. On the other hand and very surprisingly I'm not bad as a stoker, first set off had an "oh, fcking hell" moment, but as the saddle was rather low I just tapped down and got control of myself. After that "1,2,3, go" and we were off.

You don't need that much stuff to go touring.  We managed fine with a pannier each for three and a bit weeks' touring in America, plus personal effects (wallet / phone / toothbrush) in rackpack or barbag, plus sleeping bags bungeed onto the rack.

Depends where you go and what you're doing, last tour we did we each had front and rear panniers and a bar bag, of all the stuff we took the only things we didn't use were spare spokes, locknut tool and chain wrench; all the other spares and tools we took were needed, you don't mention any camping gear, we'd have been kipping in drainage culverts on more than one occasion without ours, also what about cooking kit/food

My brother and his wife went round the world by tandem. I think it's the only way she could have kept up with him. Also, two people one one bike will be faster than two people on two bikes.

For extra luggage space, you can hitch a trailer and still have fewer wheels than two bikes.

Tandem touring makes a lot of sense to me. If only I could persuade my wife...

d.

Mmm hmm, try getting a tandem and trailer on a train/hairyplane 

Have you ridden a tandem with a trailer in tow? If so does it affect control much?

Tandemming is downright lunacy to me, but I quite enjoy it.

Minus points -
More difficult to get on trains
More potential for 'mechanicals' - things seem to break/wear out on tandems at at least twice the rate of a solo.  And if things are terminal one of you can't ride off to get assistance - you're both stuck.
Less space for luggage
Tandems can be quite unforgiving on bums as you're not getting out of the saddle and the stoker especially gets a lot of jolts from the road. After several days this can become an issue !

Would S+S couplings help with the train thing?

Your mechanicals points are more of an issue, has anybody experienced terminality on a tandem?

Luggage - trailer?

The bum thing is worrying, it was my tender gluteii that did for us on the last tour.

[rdaviesb]

Have you ridden a tandem with a trailer in tow? If so does it affect control much?

We have an Extrawheel - doesn't affect the tandem at all.  We've also towed a CarryFreedom Y frame, which when fully loaded was sort of noticeable, but not a problem.

[Clare]

Have you ridden a tandem with a trailer in tow? If so does it affect control much?

We have an Extrawheel - doesn't affect the tandem at all.  We've also towed a CarryFreedom Y frame, which when fully loaded was sort of noticeable, but not a problem.

Anybody used a BOB Yak (we already have one of those)?

[Sergeant Pluck]

I don't think tandem touring would be for us

You should give it another go, I'd be surprised if you did not make a good tandem team.

[Tim]

Anybody used a BOB Yak (we already have one of those)?

We use the revolution trailer than looks rather like the yak. Tows very well. Greatest problem is it means you car more kit, so more weight, so hills get slower.

As for planes for tandemming further afield the Virgin Atlantic sporting goods policy on bicycles specifically says includes tandems.

[woollypigs]

One Tandem, One Camera, Twenty Thousand Miles Of Possibilities :: Take A Seat

[Clare]

One Tandem, One Camera, Twenty Thousand Miles Of Possibilities :: Take A Seat

Curses, foiled again 

If one bloke can do that there really aren't any more excuses!


Thanks Woolly 

[chris]

Tandem touring - why would you?

cos the kids were to small to ride their own bikes -

[chris]

Have you ridden a tandem with a trailer in tow? If so does it affect control much?

We have an Extrawheel - doesn't affect the tandem at all.  We've also towed a CarryFreedom Y frame, which when fully loaded was sort of noticeable, but not a problem.

Anybody used a BOB Yak (we already have one of those)?

Our BOB YAK works fine behind the tandem and the triplet (see pic above) as long as it isn't overlaoded and top heavy, when it makes handling at low speed very unpredictable.

[Clare]

Tandem touring - why would you?

cos the kids were to small to ride their own bikes -

Fantastic pictures 


Do you have a Long Vehicle sign on either of them?