BNB

Our new Cannondale tandem came with bullhorn style stoker handlebars. We are curious if there are any handlebars that extend out from the driver seatpost to allow the stoker to be in a more upright position. Hope that makes sense. I'd like to hear about your stoker handlebars if they are different from standard (pics would be great).

vrooom3440

This is one of the reasons the bigger person usually rides captain as the front seat height can be a limiter to rear bar height. Not to say you have to switch by any means, just playing Captain Might Be Obvious today Just to put some boundaries on the problem, how tall are you and your husband?

I think you are really not looking for different stoker bars so much as a different stoker stem.

waynesulak

See link below. The height of the bars can be adjusted by purchasing different length stems for the rise portion. Allows the use of any handle bars you like at any height. Looks like it would add up to a lot of weight if that matters.

Rodriguez Tandem Parts, adjustable stoker stem

Sprout97 

We've been using Co-Motion's Max Adjust for several years. Oddly, I don't see it on their website (out of production?). I know that Precision Tandems still carries the item: https://www.precisiontandems.com/cat_pics/smmax-adj.jpg , My stoker/wife/navigator loves hers! Granted, it's at maximum length (18cm), but it keeps her happy. There are longer pieces available but they're fixed length.

BNB

Good solutions ! Thanks for the posts @waynesulak and @Sprout97.

Paul J

BNB, Tandems East has a few options too. Here is a link to the page. Tandems East Stems

BNB

Got a PM from @briwasson but (stupidly) I cannot reply as I don't have enough posts. Please send a pic; not sure yet what will work best for us.

B. Carfree

Bear in mind that as you raise the stoker's bars you cause him to put more of his weight on his bum. From an earlier thread, you mentioned he was having a bit of an issue there. There's also a relationship between the amount of bend at the hips and the width of the bones one sits on; as you become more upright you use a wider portion of these. This may affect what saddle works best for him. Also, the higher up he is the more he can destabilize the bike, although that may not be a problem for you two. As usual, changing one thing on a bike changes others.

BNB

Yes, I expect this will be an iterative process. We'll be trying a different saddle tomorrow, no change in handlebars. Might experiment away from the "proper method"; this method forces a lot of butt time in the saddle for the stoker.

Philly Tandem

Oops, just saw this. Will try to take a photo tonight.

BNB

Thanks, no rush. You can PM me but I can't PM you so feel free to post or pm.

twocicle

I'm curious what the BOA stands for? Big Overweight Anchor?

Philly Tandem

Here are some photos. The rise of the bars is about 2.5 inches. They are alloy (not sure what brand) and are in perfect shape, including the grips. These were on a Co-Motion Mocha tandem that I bought.

Even if these won't work for you as a swap, I'd be interested in buying your bullhorn bars if you decide to change them out.

BNB

Thanks for the pics. We're changing stuff out slowly to see what works best. New saddle for the next ride. I'll let you know if we decide to change out the bullhorns but so far, my husband is adjusting. He was having pain in his left arm but started looking over my right shoulder to put more weight on his right side and that is helping - at least for our short rides so far.

Paul Barnard

I will try to remember to post a photo of our set-up when I get a chance. I ride up front and have a typical roadie layout. My wife rides in the back and I have her in a cruiser configuration. We love it!

Paul Barnard

Here's a pic that shows what we did. Cruiser bars, extendable stem and cruiser seat.

BNB

That's a helpful pic of the extendable arm - looks like it would work well. Thanks for the info.

Mainframeguy

I can post pics if wanted as I'm due to re-tape stokers bars with gel tape..... we have a solution very similar to these bars sold by SJS - the difference is that ours started as straight bars and had an additional "butterfly" shaped top bar added which secures to the bar ends of the straight bar. Hope that description makes sense.... we bought our cannondale second user and it was already fitted and works very well for my stoker.

BNB

Interesting - just sent to my husband to see what he thinks (too bad they're called "lady" handlebars : ) Thanks for the information.

2gether84

Our first Tandem was a Trek T900, which is more of a comfort style of bike. Then a few months later we bought a used Cannondale RT3000, which is more of a road style bike, with bullhorn bars for the stoker. My wife did not like the bullhorn handlebars. She felt like she was leaning too far forward, so we added a Control Tech adjustable stoker stem and a pair of $20 Giant handlebars.

SlowJoeCrow

If it makes you feel better in the US that style of bar Universal Cycles -- Dimension Trekking Bar is usually called a trekking or "pretzel" bar. I actually have this style on the captain's position of my tandem while my stoker has an old school MTB setup with a straight bar and bar ends.
If you are looking for a higher hand position a "North Road" style bar from Nitto or Velo-Orange might fit the bill (think old 3-speed bike).

Machka 

I need to know the answer to this question as well.

Rowan and I rode our tandem for the first time in about 15 months last weekend.

When I rode the tandem last, I found the handlebars a little bit low for my liking. I normally ride my single bicycles with the handlebars a little bit higher than my saddle. But I could manage.

However, during the last 15 months, a couple medical issues have come up and one way we're dealing with them is to raise the handlebars on my single bicycles even higher, putting me well into an upright position. This allows me to breathe ... an important feature of cycling for me.

So now I find the handlebars more than a little bit low for my liking. I actually kept wanting to put my hands in a spot about 4 inches higher than where they were. Or at least to have that option ... I don't necessarily need to ride up there all the time. We turned the bullhorns up, which helped a little bit. That at least gave me higher spots to hang onto, but it wasn't ideal.

I was trying to envision some sort of double bar, or one that curved around so that there was a higher spot for my hands, and the usual lower spot.

We might also be interested in a stem piece that would raise the handlebars a couple inches.

Paul J

Machka, The item waynesulak posted above, and I've include with this post, is a great item to do exactly what yu are asking to do. You can attach as long a stem with whatever rise you would like on the end of the extension to get the bars very high. These Stoker extensions are available from several of the tandem specific sites. We got ours from Tandems East for our original Cannondale and that transferred directly to our Bushnell. The part marked "BOA" is a standard short high-rise stem which you could use a longer stem to get it higher yet.

B. Carfree

This isn't a fix, but I sometimes give the captain a lower back rub while we ride along. It allows me to straighten up a bit and gives her some lower back relief. I suppose whether you can do this or not depends on how far back you are from Rowan. In my case, my knuckles practically drag on the ground so reach isn't an issue.

Rowan

Thanks for the ideas on the stem, wayne, and thanks for the endorsement, Paul. I will have a look at what we have this weekend and see if I can replicate the Rodriguez solution, which seems to be quite elegant and flexible.