Tandems of the forum

Not really mtb but I have a thorn touring tandem with 26"wheels that can handle some rough stuff

Yeah I guess I didn't really mean MTB, but perhaps rough stuff is better idea of what I'd want to ride, just non paved roads.

The more I look at it, the more I love the idea.

New venture!

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Anyone know if you can take a tandem on the high speed train to Whitstable? Going there at the weekend and South Eastern website says full size bikes allowed but doesn't say anything about tandems.

Is it possible to buy a 2nd hand tandem with couplers?
Or what would it cost to get a frame build up, roughly.

but doesn't say anything about tandems.

That's pretty standard for TOCs. If you check the the national rail info here it says

Tandems are only carried by exception and where stated

This was only added in the latest update of the T&Cs so you previously had a bit of wiggle room - 'oh, it doesn't say they aren't allowed...'

Either way, the HS trains have oodles of room and you'd probably be ok, it would be entirely at the discretion of the guard/station staff so make friends and don't plan to travel on a particular train.

Is it possible to buy a 2nd hand tandem with couplers?

It must be, since tandems exist with couplers and not all tandems are kept by their original owners for life. It might take a while to find one.

what would it cost to get a frame build up, roughly.

Likely to be £3000 minimum and up to well over twice that for something tarty, but you can get couplers fitted to a suitable existing steel frame for £645 for a solo, so two or three times that for a tandem depending on what the frame format is and how many pieces you want to break it into. Given how cheap second hand tandems are, it could be well worth spending £1500 to get couplers added to and old one rather than buying a new one.

Yes your suggestion of retrofit was my thought too, as I can't see any more sale I guess they're quite rare to come up. Pletly of normal tandem for sale though.
And you've confirmed I can't get near affording new

Picked this one upo this morning. Plan is to replace cheapish parts (7 speed SIS, plastified Ofmega cranksets,...) by more quality parts I have in my spares box (Magura hs 11 brakes, SLX 10 speed groupset).

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There's a Gazelle tandem in East Dulwich for £300 here if anyone is interested - more 'leisure' than Col de Dogkennel

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?9,1961671,1963444#msg-1963444

£125 for this one, on here: https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/325546/#comment14413696

Fillet brazed niceness.

For sale -https://www.leboncoin.fr/velos/1496328420.htm/

Couldn't say no to renting this brute for €10 the other day, first time either of us rode a tandem. Drivetrain made me wince but the brakes (Magura HS11) were shockingly good. Not sure what they were going for with the frame design on this one but it worked fine.

Felt really weird to ride but good. Monstrously fast on the flat compared to a solo bike. And quite reasonable uphill, where I thought the synchronised cadence thing would be annoying. But we only rode it up a small hill (to Castell de Bellver in Palma). I could definitely be persuaded to buy one one day if I had room to store it.

We absolutely could not ride it with my girlfriend at the front - is it my failure as a stoker or her wobbly steering?

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is it my failure as a stoker?

Yes. If the stoker doesn't want a fight, a small captain can easily handle a large stoker. If the stoker is trying to steer the bike, even a substantial strength and weight advantage on the part of the captain is not enough

More practice needed then! I tried to sit on without pedalling and even that was too difficult. In my defence, the stoker's bars didn't seemed to be clamped in any way resulting in them twisting in that tube, and the basket was positioned horribly meaning that I couldn't jump on/off the back. So when we started rolling I would get stuck between the saddle and basket running along with my feet either side of the bike

You should be starting with the stoker completely ready to go, providing 90% of the torque off the line. Captain must be happy with getting feet sorted while moving, especially clipless.

Best way to get your head around being a stoker is to be captained first by someone bigger (and uglier) who you trust. Their beef will reduce your impact but its the trust that's most important. Close your eyes/stare at their back, whatever you need to just sit there and let the captain balance the bike.

I can always tell when the better part of my team is spooked by my captaining because she can physically steer the bike just by involuntarily shifting her weight towards the kerb. This makes her invaluable to particularly slow/fast manoeuvring but that's next level.

it's a serious lesson in trust :) . you'd be more than welcome to borrow ours for an afternoon if you fancy trying one out

You should be starting with the stoker completely ready to go, providing 90% of the torque off the line. Captain must be happy with getting feet sorted while moving, especially clipless.

Ah, that's interesting. It felt like my girlfriend was pedalling off before I got a chance to get my feet sorted. We were trying to pedal off at the same time.

Weird though, we had no trouble with me on the front aside from the first two or three attempts to set off. And in those instances low speed wobble was definitely a factor - I would have had nearly as much trouble alone I think.

I'm guessing it's a good idea to be able to do both positions, in case the captain hurts themselves or something, which is what prompted us to try it the other way!

Starting together is level 2 tandem skillz, useful but not essential. The captain should not be relying on the stoker for holding the bike up at all while stopped.

Bicycles steer through weight movement and the captain has the control of this because they have the steering input. (Not the whole story, really not the point here! Ironically the 'steering' is mostly for balancing rather than steering.) Fat captain means the twitches of the stoker change the CoM less.

It's certainly illuminating for the captain to know how to stoke, and vice versa.

Thanks mate I might take you up on that. My mission to buy one has been sidelined, thanks to a lack of bank balance.

I feel we have strong trust, we ride the motorbike together and have done some spirited riding in French canyons together.

I feel we have strong trust, we ride the motorbike together and have done some spirited riding in French canyons together.

Perfect. Riding pillion is the closest to being a stoker.

Riding pillion is the closest to being a stoker

Two things I've only done once in my life.

The generic advice for novice pillions/stokers is the same; hold the pilot's waist at first, that way it's hard to put inputs directly into the bike, and the level of your death-grip is useful feedback for the pilot.

That looks so good!
Is that colour a little purple?

Amen to that. My first time on a tandem was steered by rob ‘the gorilla’ Jeffries rip who then proceeded to track stand, trundle slowly round the top of the bank etc until we’d established who had the bigger balls and I agreed to sit still

Likewise, welcome to borrow mine anytime. In SE6.