tandembethesda

My wife's back is starting to effect our tandem bike riding. Has anyone have or have ridden a recumbent tandem?

I saw online that Tandems East has RANS Recumbent Tandems. Definitely a lot more expensive than my Trek T900 that I bought used. ($450 compared to $6000-$8000)

Any and all comments would be appreciated by anyone with recumbent experienced.

jim_pridx

I've never ridden a recumbent tandem, but a good friend of mine owns a shop that sells Volae tandems for a bit less than $6000-$8000.

https://hostelshoppe.com/Recumbent-Recumbent-Tandem/

If you give them a call, just ask for Scott.

Leisesturm

Kind of apples and oranges to compare a mass market brand diamond frame tandem, used... to a new, specialty builder, recumbent tandem. Without trying all that hard, you could find diamond frame tandems, new, in the same price range as the Rans recumbents. So that's out the way. So... let's come down to earth. There are a number of recumbent tandems, new and used, in the $3K price range. There are also one or more hybrid designs that combine a recumbent "captain" compartment that does not steer, and a diamond frame "stoker" compartment that does also steer. The one by Hase (Pinto?) is not likely to be cheap, but I believe there are knock-off's. Recumbent tandems are also available used, just like regular tandems. On my bucket list is to build a recumbent tandem for me and mine. It will have a rear facing stoker compartment (back to back, rug aan rug in Dutch where they are a popular design).

tandembethesda

Definitely realize I'm going to have to pay more, but my Trek was the best $450 I every spent.

Wife was skeptical of buying a tandem, but now she loves it. Before my two biggest problems were getting to far ahead of her or her reluctance to go to far because she was concerned about getting back.

Now she doesn't blink at a 30 mile bike ride.

JanMM

We got a decade out of our $1100 starter KHS tandem but then upgraded to a RANS Screamer for the 2011 season. Considerably less than current prices because it was a Hostel Shoppe version and they were in the process of rolling out their own Volae tandems. The Volae tandems look to be verrry nice - but we love our Screamer. Just a guess, but I imagine there are more Screamers than any other 'bent tandem. I had already been riding recumbent bikes, so getting used to the Screamer was not difficult.
I agree with talking to the folks at Hostel Shoppe. (We bought ours from them sight unseen. Would recommend a test ride if you are unsure about 'bents.) I've heard good things about Tandems East, too.

geoffs

Is her back causing problems due to her position on the bike? Perhaps a decent bike fit might help?

ncbikers

We have a T900, an EZ Tandem (recumbent tandem by Sun) and solo recumbents. Like them all. My question is what are you trying to change by going to a recumbent? All recumbents provide better back support than a DF. There are other trade offs. If all she needs is a more upright position you can get that with different handle bars. The trend in DF tandems is to have a shorter stoker compartment letting the stoker sit more upright. Good luck.

tandembethesda

>geofffs & ncbikers

Her back hurts in general, not because of the bike. T900 provides a pretty upright position, but the recumbents actually provide back support when you ride.

>ncbikers - do you "self maintain" your T900? If you do, I was wondering if the crank has a sealed cartridge? Do you have the original seats? After a long trip the seat gives us our biggest problem.

Tony Marley

The Screamer is a very comfortable recumbent tandem. Had one for years, before switching to the Seavo, which is also a great tandem. They are expensive, though. That is about the only downside, from my perspective.

Irishred

We just sold our Cannondale Road Tandem 2 for same reason. We got the lower end bent tandem- the Sun EZ AX tandem which we really like. Production of Sun tandems was ended about ten yrs ago but you can still find good used ones for $500 to around $2,000 on line.

Irishred

Re the Sun EZ AX tandem...because of the disk brakes and the way they are mounted on the AX a rear rack is difficult to mount. Any ideas for mounting a rear rack on the AX?

DubT

What do the medical people say about her back, is it something that exercise/manipulation can resolve.

From my 35 years of bike riding and racing an upright riding position puts more pressure on the back and the butt. A more bent over position is more comfortable and distributes the weight better. It takes some getting used to and it needs to be done gradually. Maybe a professional bike fit is in order?

Just my thoughts.

alias5000

If you should get to the ordering stage, bentrideronline (dot) com's message board may be a good place to look for a used one in North America.

Ridden a recumbent tandem once, it was incredibly more comfortable compared to any uprights. (Quite) a bit heavier and - compared to our Cannondale RT2 - slower.

Darth Lefty 

Terra Trike makes a nice tandem, and a tandem conversion kit for the their budget model Rover. I was shopping trikes for my mother and my local dealership's SEO is on point, I get served their ads all the time now, and so I might have a misplaced idea how popular these really are.

TerraTrike Tandem Recumbent Trike | Sacramento Trike Dealer | Laid Back Cycles

merlinextraligh

+1.

I think it would be worth a shot, particularly if you can find a very good bike fitter with knowledge of back issues.

Cheaper than a new tandem, and you can still buy the recumbent if it doesn't work.

Leisesturm

Don't know whether the cartridge is sealed or not. Not that it matters. A sealed cartridge is less than $25 at your LBS. You'll need two. I took one look at the OEM seats on the T900 and bought better ones before we even left the store! Do yourselves that kindness at your earliest opportunity. Also I strongly suggest that you suggest to your wife that she work up to a one or two minute Plank daily to strengthen her abdominal (core) muscles. Her back pain will end. I guarantee it. I have professional chiropractors (husband and wife) as friends and they live in a mansion paid for by people who won't plank. Recumbents are fun but only if you spend lots of money. But what is the good of spending lots of money to buy a bike that won't hurt your wife's back. Let's get your wife's back back.

ncbikers

> Tandembethesda - I don't know if it has cartridges or not. We found the OEM seats fit us better than any other seats we have. Not a problem. The tandem I find most interesting is two trikes that "train" together to ride as a tandem. We haven't ridden one yet. The idea is that each person can peddle at their own cadence as they each have their own shifts and the chains are not connected. Also, you have two separate trikes if you want to use them that way. They are also easier to transport.

Carbonfiberboy 

By far the cheapest and most healthy thing in the long run is to join a gym and hire a personal trainer for her. My 85 y.o. aunt is deadlifting 95 lbs. Couldn't walk more than a few feet when she started. My advice is usually to not think so much about bike fit, rather concern yourself with getting fit. 140 y.o. team here. I have pretty much every old man back problem known. My wife and I stay operational through consistent, carefully chosen exercise. Still riding a slammed -17° stem. Denial is not just a river in Africa.

StephenH

Some of the delta trikes can be coupled together to make a tandem also. I'm assuming that's not cheap.
In the US, Bilenky makes a recumbent/upright tandem, rear person steers and is the upright rider.
I know one couple that rides a recumbent tandem, another local couple that had one for a while, and both of them used (and liked) the Rans Screamers.

djedgar

We have a Double Vision recumbent tandem with under seat steering and independent pedaling. It takes some practice to get comfortable with the USS. We found the RANS Screamer a great recumbent too, easier to ride from the get go. The Double Vision was extremely comfortable on the multi-day RAGBRAI ride. It also worked well for a few years of us taking turns with various surgeries. We were able to keep riding, something that would not have been possible with a regular tandem.

But eventually hauling the bike around (fit on the diagonal in our Suburban) and up hills very slowly got tiresome and we have the DV hanging in the garage, where its been stored for years.

twocicle

I'm not in the market for a recumbent, but if I were, this is probably close to my dream choice...

esther-L

My husband and I have a Barcroft Columbia - it's similar to the RANS Screamer. Our transport method is placing tandem on roof rack - that is a challenge for the weight of this beast. We test-rode the RANS at Mt Airy bikes in Maryland.

It's comfortable. We are slower on this bike than on our Santana. I find that when we go thru bollards on greenways, I (stoker) need to take my hands off the handgrips to make sure that I don't get struck by a bollard. This is perhaps paranoia, but my handgrips are roughly 30 inches apart, and bollards are usually 36 inches apart. Going uphill is challenging for us. We bought from Bikes @ Vienna. Barcroft is no longer in business.

If you have pants inseam of 30 inches or longer you won't have a problem with bike fit. We went with the Barcroft because my husband had better feet on ground contact with that bike than with the RANS. He has relatively short legs for being 5'9".

djedgar

Riding technique we found that worked for us was for the stoker to have control of the drag brake and be the "kick stand" on stops. The Captain kept his feet on the pedals to control the take off. This was especially important at some intersections where visibility was a problem.

Stoker keeps two feet on the ground holding the bike upright and stationary like a tripod, going to one foot down when take off is imminent. When Captain takes off, Stoker releases brake and clips in 2nd foot, easy to do with independent pedaling.

This took some practice to see what worked for us, and we tease it only took us 300 miles to get comfortable riding in traffic. The underseat steering was great on long rides, but there was a learning curve not required with the above seat steering.

akexpress 

This is our best friends ride. It has been changed to use 700c wheels now since that picture was taken. They have many trips on it now. They can keep up with most teams on the many tours we have done. Last year on a number of the Colorado passes they did just fine. We are going to convert it to DI2 this summer to make the shifting even better. It was a challenging design in that Randy is 6'2" and Kathy is 5'. If they did it again some changes would be made but overall it has been very successful . Calfee has been supportive in the whole process. It is probably the only carbon fiber coupled recumbent tandem in existence. It fits in S&S cases for travel. If someone wants more info PM me as I was a big part in the concept of this bike and its execution.

jim_pridx

You are aware that this thread is over three years old, correct? The link I posted has indeed changed, but that's what happens when bike shops update their websites over the years.