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Anyone ride tandem with their Mrs? My wife needs to restart her cycling and has slowed down quite a bit physically and I think this is a good way for us to get things going again. Travel at the same speed, relax, and just enjoy the ride together. She's kinda cold to the idea of a tandem. Has anybody had to convince their other to do this? Success? Failure?
The old saying is: "Wherever your relationship is going, it will get there faster on a tandem". They are not for everyone, and if she's not stoked on on her own it I'd tread VERY cautiously.
That said, others who didn't heed this advice abound, so you can get a nice tandem for really cheap. We're looking for a touring one, but since we're the same height it's a little harder, as many of them are built for much shorter stokers.
As long as you’re ok with the local shop starting a betting pool on how soon you’ll divorce, go for it!
Srsly though what riding are you talking about? Paved bike paths? Can she handle an ebike ok? That’s the go to solution these days.
Get her an ebike
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Ebike?
We were given a tandem that my wife’s parents were no longer using maybe 20 years ago. I think we’ve ridden it twice.
Not for us. We ride together all the time but not on that thing. But it was kind of ok when I rode it with our kids for the differential power problem you state. Though that was also very rare.
See if you can borrow one first to try it. Might be great. Might be terrible.
I'm with the last 2 posters. Seems like a perfect excuse to pick up an ebike. She'll get a workout and can decide how much assist she wants and can ride it with or without you.
We've owned 2 tandems. First one when the kids were babies and pulled a Burley. Decent fun, but lots to wrangle. 2nd was after the kids left the house (Salsa Powderkeg). Fun bike and excellent to ride, but again, the hassle of loading and my wife only being lukewarm to cycling (even solo), so we sold it.
Recently bought an ebike for her and she loves it. We can easily ride the bike paths together, and she is more engaged in the process. Upsides also include ease of loading and smaller storage footprint. Tandem really requires a pickup for easy transport. After selling the Tandem, we sold the truck and got into #Vanlife.
It would be all paved riding nice and easy. On the other hand we just had "the discussion" again. It aint gonna happen. Her words: "you are way more into this than I am. I'll let you know when Im ready to start riding again. And don't go buying one of those bamboo things, they are ugly." Quite a few years ago I almost had her on my side to try the tandem thing and was thinking of building a Calfee bamboo tandem for us. I initially showed her a picture and her words were "that's the ugliest fucking thing Ive ever seen". There is no second guessing what she is thinking at any given moment.Quote:
Originally Posted by frorider
Yeah, get an ebike they said..
see if you can rent an E-bike to try
We use to rent a Tandem at our shop in Whistler, we called it the Divorcycle.
It was an Electra Cruiser with beach bars and coaster brakes. It was eventually destroyed by a mid 30's tourist couple who's ride on the casual gravel path took a wrong turn onto
"Hydro Hill", a steep loose gravel trail with a sharp left hander at the bottom.
The couple walked 3 miles back to the shop with bloody and gravel filled knees and elbows, dragging a bike with a folded handlebar and the fender jammed between the frame and tire.
That was the end of our relationship with the Divorcycle, (and possible the relationship of the tourist couple).
I bought some new beach bars, removed the fenders, and sold it.
We have an old Puch moped that I can get running again. Same thing right?
Wife and I used to ride tandem a ton. Now collects dust. Definitely need a LOT of communication, even things like a road break needs to be called out so she doesn’t get her taint crushed.
Oh man, this is definitely what you need:
https://ep1.pinkbike.org/p5pb18912428/p5pb18912428.jpg
Here on the coast of Maine we also call the tandem sea kayak a divorce boat. Proceed with caution
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I paddled a tandem with a ski bud we would drink lots of coffee get pretty stoned and paddle quite fast but between us we had 80-90m yrs of WW paddling so never any problem with the style of paddling
but his wife trys to paddle too fast so he got her a slightly longer paddle to slow her down but still they do some pretty big routes, I can't imagine being in a tandem for months on end with that woman
Invented a tandem with my wife in Singapore last year. It was a humorous experience. One and done. There is zero reason to think it’s a good idea unless both people are really stoked on it and know what they’re getting into.
As mentioned by almost everyone; this has Ebike written all over it.
Specifically, get her to parking lot test one. No big ride. Just ride around for a few minutes.
If that gets the expected giggles and newfound enthusiasm, then proceed with a proper rental. BUT, it has to be on her terms.
My wife is a total shredder. But it’s been a years long lesson on how she’s not a dude who wants to compete with me and try to do everything I do. When I ride with her, it’s to ride with her. It’s not for her to ride with me.
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We have a tandem and never use it. A long time ago we rented one and had a blast, so fast forward to a couple years ago, and a friend was selling theirs, so I bought it for cheap. We've used it thrice. Visiting friends nearby with wine in the bottle cages is its main purpose.
So...I'm a cyclist and my wife was not. She now kinda likes it, and is pretty strong. Nonetheless, I still will ride ahead on hills, come back, and redo the hills to match up with her. I doubt we will ever get ebikes unless we get really cheap or free ones for the same way we use the tandem, but beach cruiser style would work just as well. Seems like she doesn't wanna ride bikes. Oh well.
A neighbor gave me a tandem a few years ago, with the caveat that I could not return it. IIRC it was a circa 1994 Burley mountain bike with 26" wheels and cantilever brakes, had been ridden once, and was like new. I tuned it up, and it sat for a couple of years.
Mrs C refused to ride it.
Eventually sold it to somebody who drove up from Fresno to buy it. He was incredibly stoked. I was happy to see it get out of my shed.
tandems are right up there with recumbents
I yo-yo’d with a couple riding a tandem in the Shenandoah Mountain one hundred. They were in good spirits the whole time. Nice folks, older. The wife was pretty hot and clearly a badass. My takeaways were fuck that, they were clearly masochistic weirdos, and that she was a keeper.
aren't tandems faster on the flat cuz there is less wind resitance but then slower on climbs ??
One more Tandem story, then I'll leave this thread alone.
One afternoon in the bike shop I see a customer I know walk in. Right away I head toward the front of the store to greet him.
This customer is legally blind and had his service dog with him. I've know him for years, he lost his sight in mid 40's, and was a kick ass skier and super high level cyclist in his day.
Long story short he needed a new helmet, we joked about him not caring what it looked like. I pulled a few off the shelf, left him to be while he chose the one that fit him the best. Once he decided on a new helmet he let me know he was done and I walked him to the cashier.
I introduced him to the young, female, 20ish blond cashier at the checkout. She was ditsy and gitty and asked to pet his dog, he had to explain he's a working dog and she should n't pet him. I made sure my customer had what he needed, and walked away at that point to take care of something in the back of the shop.
I got busy elsewhere in the store and went back to the cashier 15 minutes later. The blonde cashier was so intrigued "So he's totally blind?", "And he needs a bike helmet?" I explained to her how he had lost his sight in adulthood, and was a really good cyclist in his younger years and still loves to ride a bike. I explained to her that he rides on a tandem in the back seat, and is peddling really hard, and that they go super fast and that they have even won a bunch of racers.
She was super excited and impressed, then she had a strange look on her face and looked me straight in the ear and asked...... "HOW DOES THE DOG REACH THE PEDALS?"
She honestly thought his seeing eye dog was the lead tandem driver! Me and a few other guys I the shop never let he live that one down. No he rides on a tandem with Greg, you know Greg.
End of Tandem stories from me.
Our boy will make a comment at least once a bike ride about me sitting in his Thule seat and he getting to pedal. I have redirected that enthusiasm to endless toddler speculation about when we get a tandem. I hope he stays just as excited, by 12 or so he will be big enough for me to be his stoker.
A friend helped my wife build a city bike exactly as she wanted. My only involvement was that I had the right size frame for her that I had originally bought for the parts. She rides infrequently but is always happy about going for a spin when she decides it’s the right time.
Another vote for an ebike, it's the right solution.
I think it's like one in a million people that enjoy being the stoker on a tandem. That said, the enjoyment factor goes up the more upright the riding position and the shorter the ride. For us it was a novelty and fun to ride to the farmer's market etc.
Our tandem is currently serving duties as a kid hauler with 2 child seats attached. After the kids outgrow it or lose interest, I'll probably pass it on.