Tandem Question

[maillotpois]

With your daughter's age/size, you may be able to get away with crank shorteners instead of a kid back. You may still need a kidback, though. I think my daughter's 56" and she's 10. We just took the kid back off maybe 6 months ago and switched to crank shorteners.

[MomOnBike]

There is a couple with a 5-ish YO daughter riding across the country right now on a triplet. It's on CrazyGuyOnABike, the You Can Do Anything tour (?) My problem with their setup is that the (really, really cute) kid is in the way-back seat. DH & I agree that we'd be much happier with our kid in the middle. Control freak issues, and all, I guess.

Which brings me to a point that others have mentioned. I want to be in control of my own destiny. It's not that I don't exactly trust DH, exactly, but blast it all, I want that Control. That and the fact that much of the scenery I'd see would be his shoulders - which I have seen before...

They say that tandeming will either make or break a relationship. For all that, I'd like to try one...once. I might be wrong.

Still, I often regret that we didn't have tandems to ride when the girls were little. It seems like a great way to introduce kids to biking while still being in charge of their safety (Control issues again... )

[gibnutlover]

Last summer I invested in a classic Schwinn Twinn tandem with the boyfriend
Now clearly this bike is just a pleasure cruiser but I think some of the same control issues come up--so I would be sure to test drive with all parties (husband, daughter) you may ride with. I am a very anal "the bike must stay in a straight line, right hand side, etc." rider. The boyfriend is what we will call a "free spirit"--that means he wants to go everywhere and poke in every dumpster w/o really telling you why he is stopping, slowing, turning, etc. So there I sit in the back a victim to his whims, BUT if I try to be captain he still manages to be fidgety enough and screw around enough to make my job very challenging. So...what I am saying is test drive your partners before a big $$$ commitment. All the whines aside, riding on the tandem can still actually be a lot of fun. We found our classic by posting an ad on Craigslist (less $$ than ebay auctions). I think w/ an inexpensive classic you can share the love of cycling with your daughter in the same amount of time as those longer distances you crave (ours is a bit of a beast, you won't go too far). Soon enough she will be old enough to bike on her own for the distances you crave. Plus, we think we look so cool on our antique...

[fatbottomedgurl]

Yeah, I was kinda thinking of a beater bike. I want to save the big bucks for my bike, which I know won't be a waste of money . And I I want to ride with Tom, he has his own bike and can (maybe) keep up with me.