Tandem advice

Okay, I am buying a tandem bike as my last ditch effort to hook my hubby on biking with me. Our ride this last weekend was again unsuccessful, therefore, reinforcing his desire to never get back in the saddle. He insisted on buying a mountain bike when I bought my trail bike, even though he had no intentions of ever off-roading; therefore, his bike is a good deal heavier than mine and still has the knobbies on. His pedal broke during the ride, he has no water bottle carrier (so I outfitted him with one of my front bags) and his front brakes rubbed for half the distance. Combine all of that with his basic lack of knowledge about shifting/spinning and you can understand his frustration! (Of course, *I* can't tell him how to bike!!)

Anyway, the problem is that I would like to be the captain. I would also like to buy the bike used, since I'm not sure he won't still totally hate it. The ones I've seen on eBay are either 5-speeders or have the captain be 6 ft and the stoker be 5 ft. Should I try a cheap leisure bike or go for the gusto and spend some bucks getting a nice one? If I get a nice one, my husband likes trail riding, yet I am a total roadie. I commute to work and ride invitationals, so I love the open road. I thought a trail version would be a nice compromise, just in case I could ever drag him out on the road (but until then, will be confined to the trails) but then what do I do about the whole 6 ft captain thing? I confess that I know NOTHING about tandems and am looking for advice of what to look out for...

Thanks so much in advance! I love this group!

~Angie

I would suggest subscribing to the tandem mailing list. Send an e mail to the following address with the word subscribe and your e mail address in the body of the message.

listserv@hobbes.ucsd.edu


If hubby isn't into biking I wouldn't spend big bucks. There's no reason you can't be the captain - it doesn't take any upper body strength- it's all in the legs. You may have trouble finding a non custom bike that fits you if he is bigger than you. Thom and I are about the same height and ride a small/small. It's really unlikely you'll find an off the shelf bike with a smaller captain compartment than stoker compartment. Generally the chick is expected to be in the back. ;) We've talked about trading off, but I don't think Thom would be a very good stoker. I don't know anything about off road tandems, so I'd encourage you to post your questions to the listserver.


Good luck!

Veronica

I found a bike to buy, but the seller offered the following measurements:

The front cross bar is about 31" off the ground. The rear bar is slanted and goes from 27"-22".


Is anyone familiar with what these measurements would correspond to, in terms of size? My husband will be in the front and takes a 21" on his individual bike - he's 6"1" and I take a 20" - I am 5'7" with a long inseam. Can we fit on this bike or is it too small?

Angie

Well, I finally bought a starter tandem, if there is such a thing! It's a trail version, GT, that we took out for 30 miles on a crushed limestone path for an organized ride last weekend. We did better than survived, we actually had FUN, and I had no control of the steering, shifting or braking! Eeek! (I put him up front - when I tried to ride Captain, the weight difference (about 60 lbs) was too much for me to control.)

We also did a bit of 'off-roading', as we 'went for it' down a grassy hill (his call) and across some loose-gravely RR tracks (my call)... tee-hee...

Of course, one guy had to point out that if the stoker (me) got too chatty, there was no escape. He he - I've got him right where I want him!!!!
;)

Hope this link works:
http://home.comcast.net/~twadkoch/index.html

We are actually making plans to bike again, next weekend! I LOVE the tandem!!!! The great thing is that you can converse whenever you want and not have to worry about riding side-by-side or *someone* biking faster than the other one wants!

~Angie

That's so totally awesome! I'm glad you found a bike and that you're having fun with it. Yep, if Thom and I are riding together, the tandem is so much more fun than the singles.

Enjoy your ride!

Veronica