JBinDC

Hi all,

My wife and I were hoping to crowdsource info for installing a rack on our tandem. So far we have only done single night credit card traveling with me carrying a small backpack but we are now thinking of doing week long credit card touring. With that we need something more substantial in which to carry our stuff. It's an extra large/small size frame making the rear triangle rather compact. Her seatpost is too low to allow for one of those long under seat bike packs and our large water bottles take up the space inside the frame triangles. That leaves us with a front or rear rack solution, no need for both as we an easily get our stuff in one pannier each. I like the thought of using the pre-drilled mid fork mount points for a Tubus Tara front rack with Ortlieb panniers, it gets the extra weight off the rear wheel and should better plant the front wheel. I've heard mixed reviews of using a front rack verses a rear rack on half bikes but haven't read anything regarding tandems. The mentions are of stability issues with a weighted fork verses more weight over the rear wheel, but tandems are so heavy I'm curious if that is the case. The other option is obviously a rear rack but again my concern is the compact rear triangle, will the rack be severely angled downward for the top of it to meet the pre-drilled holes at the top of the seatstays. Has anyone installed a rear rack on their Cannondale road tandem with a small rear sized frame? What brand did you end up with? Comments on front versus rear racks on tandems? Any thoughts appreciated, and thanks!

JB

CaptainHaddock

We have a '12 RT2, and yes, the compact rear triangle does indeed make for a challenging fitment of a rear rack. We've never toured, but when we would bring our (then) 4 year old with us, we wound mount his childs seat bike seat to the rack without any worry about load. In terms of making it work, I wound up having to modify my rack by using longer seat-stay mount arms which were at a crazy angle (the rack allows the arms to pivot and move in both vertical and horizontal directions). So I expect that doing so would be manageable since the rear triangles are so similar between the two versions.

In terms of front mount, if you can, I would actually recommend that instead, as it will in fact further increase your stability (there's less fulcrum action and so less tale wagging).

ahultin

We have a 15 rt2 and an 11 rt2
on the 15 we have a tubus logo evo with the 300mm roundstays bent to keep the rack level



on the 11 we have the tubus cosmo with custom roundstays made from 8mm aluminium rod. Given the two mounting holes this one sits a little lower which is nice when there is a short stoker that needs the seat down

ahultin

On the 15 we also have a tubus nova

JBinDC

Thank you both for the information, this helps greatly! @ahultin Have you toured with front panniers yet? Any thoughts on using them instead of using a rear rack/panniers?

ahultin

Unfortunately no, I have not had the opportunity to tour with front panniers on this bike as of yet, as is often the case, life got in the way.

DangerousDanR

We have a Surly front rack with Jandd Large Mountain Pannier on our Ritchey Breakaway Tandem. We also have a bag that goes on the top of the rack to carry electronics and medical supplies. I carry all the tools I need to assemble the bike as well as my tire repair kit in a small "El Cheapo" bag that mounts to the Captain's seat post and the stoker's top tube.

The Surly rack is officially rated at 70 pounds. Between the supplied mounting hardware and a small bracket I fabricated to fix the rack to the fork just below the steering stem, we have a setup that I can sit on and I am around 230 pounds. The panniers loaded weigh in at about 40-45 pounds. Note well: we do not exceed the 70 pound weight limit while riding.

I started using Jandd bags when I was involved in the Fire/EMS world. We really beat those bags up and they never failed to perform as needed, so when I saw their panniers at the LBS they were my choice. They are not waterproof so we put stuff that must stay dry in an inner plastic sealed bag. We mostly do B&B touring and these three bags are enough to carry everything we need. And, the panniers work well as airplane carry on bags.

Our first tour with this setup was to the Shetland Islands and we got caught in a real Scottish Howler with winds over 50 MPH and the bike handled just fine. I have had it going a genuine 45 MPH down a hill fully loaded and the bike felt stable. We have done several 400 mile or more tours and have had zero issues with the setup. Also, we do pack the heavier stuff at the bottom of the bags which is close to the axle.

JBinDC

DangerousDanR Fantastic to hear, thanks for the information, I think it has pushed us to go with the front rack for our light touring needs. Now to find a bike shop willing to take the time during COVID to install it, thank you!