Does anyone else ride bicycles?

[ArlyA]

So Arly, are all those multi stoker bikes yours? Jon

Not all but most.

 

[civilian]

Not all but most.

Unfortunately our tandem never got ridden much. Wife and I have very different cadence rates. Mine is high and easier gear, her's slower and harder gear. Daughter has used it with a child stoker that we used ith our kids. Jon

 

[ArlyA]

We were trained to ride them waaaaaaay back when we got our 1st Burley, so after that, we trained all stokers, captains and teams so as to properly ride them. Its more fun. This was taken on Paul's Plunge Copper Harbor MI

 

[CliffordK]

I've slowed down a bit on the riding, but I need to get back on it as the cycling is the best thing I've found for my aging knees.

This was from a couple of years ago.

And yes, I did go both up and down this hill.

Playing around with bikes a bit. This photo was from Champoeg, so I had ridden the bike from Eugene to Portland, and then was begging my return trip (about 150 miles or more each direction). The first photo with the flowers was also in the middle of that Eugene/Portland ride.

 

[Captain Dirty]

Unfortunately our tandem never got ridden much. Wife and I have very different cadence rates. Mine is high and easier gear, her's slower and harder gear.

My wife and I had the same problem; solution: Re-time the pedals so the captain is 90° ahead of the stoker. Being out of phase tends to even the pedal "feel" and captain leading makes the stoker's pedals level when the captain has the inside pedal up for a turn, and stoker's inside pedal will move upwards when they start pedaling.

 

[CliffordK]

I think I've heard you can also play around with the crank lengths on a tandem.

Longer cranks tend to slow one's cadence down a bit, and shorter cranks can speed up the cadence, I think. So, perhaps try to give the Captain (that wants to spin fast) 180mm cranks, and give the stoker (who thinks the pace is too fast) 160mm or 165mm cranks.

It would be nice if you could get loaner parts from the local bike dealer. Or a "bike fitter".

Perhaps your bike manufacturer would help.

COMOTION is a local Eugene company. I haven't dealt with the directly, but perhaps they could supply the needed parts with the promise to buy them if you find the length you need.

 

[civilian]

We went to the factory store in CA at the time of ordering the Santana tandem since we lived about an hour away at the time. They sized the tandem to our size. Now this was back in the early 80's. Also I think Santana set the cranks out of phase for a better power stroke back then. Ride position thinking was a bit different than today. If I remember correctly, overall length was 8ft with 27" tires. Not sure what Arly's length is in his tandem. I know wife felt very close to my back. Short top tube for her. Today I can't tell you what crank arms are on it. I can tell you that it was disigned to support 600 pounds of riders and gear carried on rack. And stop it. Rim brakes and a drum brake.

I couldn't tell you when I actually road it last. Maybe when I first lent it to my daughter for her son as a child stoker. And he will be 13 next month. Jon

 

[ArlyA]

Rear top tubes on tandems had been lengthened very much since the 80's.