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Tandem newbie

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Tandem Cycling A bicycle built for two. Want to find out more about this wonderful world of tandems? Check out this forum to talk with other tandem enthusiasts. Captains and stokers welcome!

Tandem newbie

Old 08-10-20, 02:14 PM
  #26  
frankandbetsy@s
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Yeah I was looking at that and thought I would have to lose the fender. I have to take the wheel off for transportation but not worth changing it. We are having fun and as long as my wife stays interested we will upgrade which was always my intention. Didn't want to spend alot until I knew what we wanted. This bike is a bit short for me anyway. I was told the stoker was responsible for the cars coming up that's why I was going to give her a bell. Mirror may be nice for me up front. Extra eyed
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Old 08-15-20, 06:11 AM
  #27  
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So went out on the bike again yesterday. Now my stoker said she didn't feel like she was working. I realized my cadence was to fast for her. Is there a trick to matching cadence or is it just practicing?
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Old 08-19-20, 05:16 PM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by frankandbetsy@s
. . .I was told the stoker was responsible for the cars coming up that's why I was going to give her a bell. Mirror may be nice for me up front. Extra eyed
Not correct. The captain is responsible for everything that happens on the bike. Everything. Just like when you are driving or sailing or flying. That’s why we can say the stoker never makes mistakes....but must always obey the captain while you are mounted or under way. (Off the bike is another story of course.). The correct version of this aphorism is, It’s never the stoker’s fault.

So yes it is convenient for Mrs C to let me know by way of her mirror if the way is clear or not when we have a left turn coming up and have to plan to move left on the road. ”Car back”, “Line up” when there is more than one so don’t figure on moving over any time soon, “One more after this”, and finally “Clear”. Only then do I need to bother turning my head and looking to be sure it really is clear, before I move. But I would never move just on her say-so, any more than I would omit a shoulder check while driving a car.

The stoker has to trust you when she’s on the back of the tandem. You can divide up the workload like a team, but you are responsible for everything.
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Old 08-21-20, 11:50 AM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by jethro00
I see this in response to a question on the Amazon page for the bike that has been ordered (Kahuna Lua Tandem):
"it will apply brakes if you back peddle."

Since the pedals will keep turning when feet come off the pedals . . .
Presumably the OPs will have figured out by now that this is not correct. On a bike with a coaster brake, the internal ratchet (if not gummed up from years of neglect) allows the pedals to stop turning when feet come off the pedals, just as with all bikes that don’t use a fixed gear. If there was no freewheeling allowed, it would not be possible to activate the coaster brake by back-pedaling. Now it is true that if only the stoker’s feet come off while the captain keeps pedaling, then yes her legs may be struck by the pedals (unless she learns to perch her feet up on her handlebars!). And if the captain wants to brake, the stoker needs to learn to back-pedal, too.

Coaster brakes are useless for anything except bicycles for small children today, on a tandem even more so.
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Old 08-21-20, 12:20 PM
  #30  
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I'm very sorry, I have not kept up with this thread. I was scratching my head at the post alluding to trading up from the Co-Motion. I was like, what? But now I understand. The new bike under discussion. OMG. It simply must be said. Again. Post #29 is absolutely correct. A single coaster brake is not up to the demands of two adult cyclists of any level. It just isn't. I just don't see waiting to outgrow it. If bought through Amazon it might be possible to return. The often denigrated Kent/Pacific Dual-Drive tandems of WalMart and Amazon fame are 100x better tandems than that tandem being discussed. It is no platform from which to learn the art of riding twogether. Seriously, I would consider it a lesson learned and move on, even if it is not possible to recover the money spent. Kent Dual-Drives are only ~$250. Check one out.
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Old 08-21-20, 05:35 PM
  #31  
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I kinduv agree re; coaster brakes. Okay on the boardwalk (maybe) or some other controlled environment, but otherwise no. The reason is because when you need to brake with a coaster brake, the stoker also needs to brake (backpedal) at the same time and that requires a degree of communication that probably isn't possible verbally unless you're traveling very slowly at the time and have plenty of time to react. But when you need to stop, you really need to stop.
Learning to communicate (non-verbally) on the tandem is the fun of it, but the intuitive communication required to brake by backpedaling seems like it would be a daunting task. We've been tandeming together for 25 or so years and rarely, if ever, communicate verbally any more (other than 'bump', or sometimes, 'standing'). But I don't think we could successfully use coaster brakes together. Except in a controlled environment like a boardwalk.
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Old 08-21-20, 07:28 PM
  #32  
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To ride a bicycle at 20 km/hr requires about the same power as to walk at a purposeful marching pace (Whitt and Wilson.). Between strolling and power-walking. So if the safe speed of this tandem, with its single coaster brake, on a canal path is, say, 10 - 15 km/hr, the couple would get more exercise just by walking. Now I get it that some people use bicycles as a way of travelling short distances with less effort than walking, so fine. But be careful around dogs and small children and people with earbuds staring at their phones, with only that brake to stop you.
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Old 08-21-20, 08:19 PM
  #33  
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Well thanks everyone for responding. We've actually had the bike out a half dozen times and have been enjoying it. We only ride rail trails and tow paths so have not had any trouble stopping. Definitely not a road bike and that is not what It was bought for. It's a cruiser bike so those are it's limits. Basically starting and stopping practice and getting a feel for working together. We are very in tune to each other so it's working. I have made a friend who has some tandem mountain bikes and has invited us to ride them when we are ready to advance. Thanks everyone for the tips
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Old 08-22-20, 07:33 AM
  #34  
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Congratulations on successfully joining the group of people who enjoy riding tandems. You did it the right way for your stoker, on a cruiser tandem on safe paths. If the extent of your tandem riding turns out to be no more than what you are doing on a cruiser tandem, that's fine. If you decide to advance, as you see from the posts on your thread, that can be fun too. Glad your experiment is working out. Now, think about posting a picture of the happy tandem couple on your yellow bike.
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Old 08-31-20, 09:30 AM
  #35  
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Il try to get a picture. We were on the Farmington canal trail southern end. Plenty of people out on this section had no problems it's plenty wide. We slow down approaching walkers and such. Many people wearing masks like us. We were close to Quinipiac and Yale so this is pretty well used. Like I mentioned above my stoker is not a bike rider but we have been going a little further each time to build up endurance. We are both 67 yrs old so unlike my younger days doesn't take as much for a workou😂
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Old 08-31-20, 11:46 AM
  #36  
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For us, riding a tandem was a slow progression. We started with a cruiser tandem, a Trailmate. I did not own a car until I was in my mid 20s. So, I was used to riding a bike a lot. My stoker had not ridden a bike since she was a kid. So, for years, we would ride through Tulane's campus (on sidewalks) and around Audubon Park (paved bike path without cars), maybe 3-4 miles. We would do that once a week or so. At some point, we rode all the way downtown and to the French Quarter, on city streets. We did that a number of times on the Trailmate. After some years of riding and too many maintenance issues, we got a Trek T900. We started riding more often, and a bit further. After we got back from evacuating from Hurricane Katrina, we started riding every day on the Mississippi River levee (paved path, no cars) just to get fresh air and avoid debris. The air quality in the city was not good at that time. I would try to extend our distance, and she would be somewhat resistant. In 2016, we got our DaVinci Grand Junction. We ride every morning for about 45 minutes, and about an hour and 15 minutes on Sundays. We take occasional longer rides to the French Quarter and to Lake Pontchartrain and to City Park. She never complains about how far we ride and never forgoes a morning ride unless its raining. She now cheerfully hops on a bike fully loaded with a portable table and chairs and picnic food. We have enjoyed every phase of our tandem bike riding, even though we began and still are at different levels of riding ability (though she has come a long way since we started). Try to stay patient and let her appetite for riding grow at her pace. Also, consider getting panniers and portable chairs and a table to carry for picnics and outdoor events. My stoker takes a book to read and I take the puzzles from the newspaper and sometimes we stop and hangout before riding back home.
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Old 08-31-20, 12:37 PM
  #37  
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Thanks for the encouragement. Same here we do about 45 minutes. She is also worried about getting to tired. She was using the cellphone back there this weekend so at least she's comfortable
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