Originally Posted by
merlinextraligh
At the risk of setting off a sh*t storm, why electrify a tandem. A major reason to ride a tandem is its ability to allow riders of unequal strength to ride together.
E bike singles accomplish the same purpose. While I’m beginning to see som place for Ebikes, not sure an Ebike tandem makes a lot of sense
It's not an unfair position to take. It really comes down to each individual situation. For us, we're not lucky enough to live a relatively flat flat area (we are actually blessed to live in some of the best scenic hilly terrain with 100's of miles of almost no traffic rural back roads connected to our driveway (though we've been buried under a few feet of snow for a good part of this year)). However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for my stoker to handle the bigger climbs and longer rides. We enjoy riding together on our tandems rather than separately and want to continue. I am engineering the electrification to only provide us assistance on the climbs and we'll continue to ride old school for the remainder, and majority, of each ride.
It becomes a trade-off between weight, range, speed, thermal performance, and cost.(Pick any 4). Personally, I am not ready for an ebike, but I am not opposed to one if it enhances our shared experience on the tandem. In all the research I've done, I have never come across anyone who has said "I have ridden an ebike and they are not worth it" or "It was not fun". Once folks have ridden an ebike, their position on the subject is usually changed in favor.
I'm just trying to round out my data sets to learn if there is anything inherent with riding an electric tandem that only first hand experience would offer. So far, the responses suggest positive experiences and no signficant lessons learned.