Originally Posted by
wsa30h
Questions about multi seat tandems.
tandems with 3 or more seats.
1. How do you start and stop The bike ?
2. How do you balance the bike is it any different to a conventional 2 seat tandem ?
3. Is it hard to turn the bike ?
4. how much do they cost ?
5. What frame material is the best but not too expensive ?
6. Is a steel triple or quad good ?
7. How heavy are they from each material for example how heavy is a steel triplet as apposed to a aluminium triplet ?
1.
VIDEO OF QUINT - LOAD UP AND ROLL! Starts and stops with triplets are the same as a 2 seat tandem with a light experienced kid on board.
2. No. Everyone learns to work together as a team, no matter the number of seats, with good communication, and common goals. Make the goals fun and entertaining!
3. No. Just different. The learning curve is short. Ride it by yourself. Add your most experienced stoker directly behind you next. Ride again with that person. Add the 3rd (or keep adding riders if the bike is really long!) and practice starting and stopping
after each person gets a chance to learn the feel and develop the trust that creates this newly formed and forming team.
4. Don't go cheap as a quality well thought out designed and built triplet (or longer) will provide a much better experience, so that it will actually be used and not garage art. This is what it takes to keep going and creating memories of a lifetime!
5. Aluminum with continuous one piece tubes pierced by the seattubes. The larger diameter aluminum tubes add a bit to the nearly missing third dimension and that makes a world of difference as does the steering geometry that permits turns rather than a wrestling match. There are triplets that ride and handle better than some 2 seat tandems in my vast and likely unparalleled experience based on riding thousands of miles on nearly everything made when it comes to longer bikes over the past 24 years. And that is partly why we designed our own with the help and guidance of Dennis Bushnell. Aluminum also sheds maybe 7 pounds, certainly noticeable in all aspects from climbing, accelerating, lifting, and moving it around.
6. They are all good. Aluminum is better IMO.
7. Built a 39 pound triplet sans pedals..... examples below. But 47 pounds with a disc rear brake is where most land without the carbon bits need to shed more pounds.
104 miles Hotter'n Hell Hundred
https://www.precisiontandems.com/pho...2011_start.jpg
550 miles Bike Across Kansas
https://www.precisiontandems.com/bak2007/bak2007a.jpg
586 miles Biking Across Kansas
https://www.precisiontandems.com/bak...2006%20078.jpg
Enjoy this awesome video of a quint we sent to Australia! And they continue to have fun to this day!
Great Victorian Bike Ride (GVBR) on a Quint down under
Here are many photos of family length bikes, in use.
https://www.precisiontandems.com/familypics.htm
And this, the most recently received of many shared, speaks for itself.
"The quint was really the best thing we ever bought. It holds 7 years of good memories."
(translates to all tandems ridden with kids no matter the length!)
That is the best part, heard so many times with that being the memories and bonding created that last a lifetime.
It is really an investment in your family, an inexpensive one at that compared to the cost of many other things families do that do not retain the memories tandems provide. And there is a recapture to factor in making the cost over the number of years rather small. What gets me are folks that spend mega thousands on a single bike but then want to go cheap on a tandem, not advisable.
The time is short and goes by quickly, said in retrospect with both girls now in college. There is only one chance to make those memories. I have no regrets and strongly echo the sentiment others have posted in that regard as well. Have fun and make the leap.