Ian Hopper I used to work on Angel Island renting bikes to tourists (back in the mid 1990′s) and back then we called the tandems the divorce bikes… we saw some doozie arguments between lovers, married couples and siblings on returning to our shack. Mind you, most of these folks had NEVER ridden a tandem before, but it was still amusing to see how much a tandem can bring up cooperation and communication issues in any “couple”. slawek http://pic…
Rijidij I want one! It’s the only way my wife and I would ride together.
She can’t keep up with me, and I get bored riding slow.. Tencon On our Tandem, we never felt that we were ‘second class cyclists’ – rather the opposite! We have enjoyed the comments too. Such as that from a kid in Shannon Town, Eire in 1979: “Look – A two legged bike!’ 
tandemman THAT is the way it is supposed to work! Captain and Navigator. The Nav/stoker has time to…
digitalmouse
FINALLY! an episode of YM with a recumbent! and a tandem too! about time you lot tasted a more comfortable (and often faster) way to cycle! :) OH Bike Commuter I am trying to find a new home for a bike much like the one shown in this comic. a Bike E recumbent tandem… it rides really strangely when just the front rider is on it… almost like a unicycle with a training wheel off the back. lol AlexKiss I t…
…tionship advice too, come to think of it … If you’d be willing to carry someone across the country on your bike, it’s True Love–especially if they’d be willing to let you do it!) Pat Would you have to carry the person on a tandem (with or without them helping to pedal), or would just riding cross-country with them suffice?
FWIW, I’m trying to sell my significant other on a tandem tour this fall. No, we’ve never ridden a tandem, so it’ll…
…tokemonkey.
One Montague Paratrooper
One Greenspeed GT1
One Sun delta recumbent
On order: a custom-made ‘bakfiest’ type made from a Tom’s Cargo Bike plan combined with the Atomic Zombie Flying Dutchman plan.
Contemplated: a tandem of some sort
Plus a 50cc scooter. Opus the Poet After a couple of episodes that I was without a working bike, I currently keep one working bike, one bike that can be returned to service in a few minutes, and at…
…g as he apparently commutes from the shop back to the shop, the lower speed won’t be an obstacle either. I’m pretty sure some kind of rack could be fitted; people even go touring on these things. grumpy_not_old … or maybe a tandem for him and sister S. At least until he’s out of his cast. After that there would be endless bickering about who gets to be captain and who gets to be stoker. Dave Kahn Nursing a broken arm on a uni it’s not so much t…
Jerome Hughes The tandem on which we lead the Early Fast Busse ride for http://elmhurstbicycling.com at 6am Saturdays is such a chainless model, as my regular (blind) stoker recently upgraded from a 20yo Santana Sovereign to a current model that features Gates belt drive between the cranksets… (after a larger than expected bonus at his COBOL programming job) http://4sq.com/NuaPly – check the red tandem on the left, and how much …
…ith pleasure when we complete our first trip around the City. Radius about 3-4 miles so about 12 miles or so on paper but a lot farther in our minds once we have experienced it for the first time I guess?
When we rode it as a Tandem we got all the usual calls – ‘Can you ride Tandem‘ (In a Yorkshire accent) etc. The best so far is ‘Look, it’s a two legged bike!’ (In Shannon, Eire) from some pre-school kids Mike Schwab The NuVinci is great. yve…
…skid, have full control and never have to worry about overheating the rim, wear causing the blocks to shred the sidewall, frequent block replacement etc. My hub brakes still have the original pads after over 10 years use! The tandem has a rear hub used together with a caliper and the pad is still like new after 30 years! New caliper pads a few times though. I Just converted it to Vee-brakes – I expect to replace the rims in a year or less :-…
… comments get them down, they would save some money by not buying it as they might not go out so often in response?
So far, apart from ignorent drivers honking (who might even be saying ‘great one’ ?) all our comments on the Tandem have been good ones. From the PG Tips advert’s ‘can you ride Tandem?’ to a couple of urchins in Shannon Town, Eire, saying ‘Look, a two legged bike!’
Violinist John Take it from an experienced tandemer ‘Can…
…hank the merciful Lord) encountered this kind of behaviour in Toronto’s bike lanes. This sort of biological function is what handkerchiefs are for. I’m kind of like Bilbo Baggins – don’t leave home without one. another fred tandem captains don’t fire if they want to live another fred tandem riders don’t fire if they want to live Mindy Gross gross gross! Have never even thought about doing this. I’ve never seen my husband do it, either; now I …
…, I have a jpg now, I am asked if you have an email address I can send it too? Tencon I will try – I don’t know how yet, I believe my wife has a piccy on her blogsite?
Basically, it is a 700c-wheeled, Peugeot, sports-touring Tandem from 1979 that was modified to have two wheels at the front.
After the first pothole under just one of them nearly threw us off, we started wondering if we should have gone for two wheels at the back instead! We got …
…f the chain length and go for another short ride to spread the oil around. Will take 1015 minutes all together when you are used to it. Do monthly and your bike will last for decades like my 35 year old Pollard or 32 year old Tandem. Both as good as or better than new today. The Tandem on it’s second main chain only! (Because I fitted a NuVinci hub when it was converted to a Trike) The transfer chain is original and still as good as new… If you…
…me from enjoying myself immensely when I have dinner with her (and other friends) this evening. Just talking and laughing with her is enough to cast a glow over my entire week. Crow River Yeah, I think they need to ride tandem sometime! Question is, who’s the captain and who the stoker? Bicycle Bill Uhh…..the preferred terms these days are “Captain” and “Rear Admiral”. And unless you’ve ridden a tandem with an uncooperative person i…
K’Tesh You’re a jerk, Dent… A complete kneebiter… Widsith Nice one, Wowbagger! Widsith At one time I might have reacted like Yehuda did. Fortunately, I’m older and wiser now. I just need to figure out how to get a certain special lady to take up cycling… Cupid Tandems are good – unequal effort doesn’t draw couples apart, and makes conversation easier. Long wheelbase recumbents, perhaps also medium wheelbase too, are easy …
…>
I own many bikes (urban single speed, old steel road, modern titanium road, 29er, 20/26 recumbent, cargo trike, folding bike, beach cruiser), and it is always great to try a new one (next is a Hase Pino semi-recumbent tandem).
Pierre “But why not have a new bike, not to replace the old one, but in addition to it ?”
… because CHANGE IS BAD – have you learnt nothing from Kevin’s posts? 
: P Syke Not neces…
…y psyche (not to mention my legs…I ride the bike to stay out of a wheelchair). I do hope your bike is recovered/returned without any damage. kevins299@hotmail.com first impression of the pic is that they are a “couple” on a TANDEM…….hmm i think a few tandems would be an interesting development…..tandem riders do it in unison… THOR Hmmm. I would have thought Yehuda would be against cyclist using head phones…
personlly, I can adm…
…lete by any means. Plus I can still be contributing at 45mph+ going downhill without being spun out. Being able to change the internal range at stops comes in handy at times. MLC40 I saw a Greenspeed three-wheeled tandem recumbent about 10 years ago that had a triple chainring on the front, 7-speed derailleur on the back and a 3-speed internal hub so, yes, it’s possible. Add a Schlumpf Mountain Drive (seriously) to your description a…
…n: yes;”> journal on www.crazyguyonabike.com! Better yet, take a torturous tandem tour with Sister Sprocket as captain. Viva Las Vegas via Valentine Nebraska. Fix gear tandem of course….A stoker with a smoker…. Jerome here’s the perfect tandem for SS & Y to ride… complete with an advanced expanded mullet bar prototype!
http:…
…sarcasm> Kevin Love No Batavus bikes either. But the second bike has no fenders or chainguard… I then stopped looking at the list as its compiler appears to have no experience with city biking. Dusky I recommend riding tandem bikes. I get more smiles from drivers when my bf and I take the tandem to the market. 
Though I wish he wouldn’t treat it like his fixed gear and do loops around the cars as he waits for the light to turn green, it’…
…erself at that age!
Being a romantic, I like the original too, and would have said yes. As it was, My husband and I dated carless and penniless, riding for miles to the lake with a kite and fixings for a picnic lunch.
Maybe a tandem for Christmas is in order this year!……… BAW My grandmother used to sing:
“Michael, Michael, here is your answer due.
I’m NOT crazy all for the love of you.
If you cannot afford a carriage,
There won’t be any ma…
…l buy a lot of gasoline. SpkSnppr Wish I could read it. mongo Click that little flag icon thingie at the top of the page and you should be set. Thor I have been thining about building a velo mobile for me and my other half. a tandem recumbent trike with an electric assist hub in back, then add a body to it an some lights. Try an design something that might resemble the VW-1L.
Damn you lack of money! 
Deckard When I first moved to Portland, I …
Dave in OH My wife fell asleep riding when in her teens, and crashed. Now 25 years later she still has asphalt embedded in her knee as evidence of the mishap and road rash. It doesn’t really look like a tattoo either. She still rides with me, though. She’s a good tandem stoker and thus far I’ve no direct evidence that she has fallen asleep on our rides together on the tandem. Peter Ha! that happened to me just yesterday! I couldn’t believe it…
…omes on it, it probably would have very high property values, heck you could keep the prison structure gut the interior and build luxury condo’s into it, and they would probably go for millions a piece. jon4t2 @Harry: A tandem? jon4t2 @Harry: A tandem? Kevin Love If you don’t like islands for some reason, pick other car-free locations. For example, the Medina of Fes is by far the most valuable real estate in this city of over a …
… boards bridge the gap from the end of the trees etc to the Leamington road but am not sure when they end. I will pay more attention next time there and report back…
We are looking forward to getting our Tandem back so we can make the journey by bike (on parallel, safer, roads) Tdlais This says it all. We are many that are heard by few.
We are community. We floW through tight spaces. And in the end the car …
…l who it was.
Was it Stobart? . . . I asked the guy making my trike to use rear numberplate yellow as a sample when he asked what colour to paint it. Reflective if possible too Imagine the White tandem here: http://www.roman-road.co.uk/ in reflecive Yellow! Charlie Walnut Creek I use one solid dynamo rear light and a really bright flasher on the saddle b…
…y from the crank. Without some form of clamp, my foot slips off the pedal now and again. I am afraid that this twisting motion would unclip me and make things no better, so I fitted another pair of clips to the trek, like our Tandem and my Pollard have. On the tandem, it was a pain trying to get clipped in without falling over despite the stability. I used to clip my right foot in and hold it upright while my wife clipped in, then push off,. Clip…
…oon is having a senior moment and simply forgot about this little tool because he’s so upset about losing his favorite pump.
And since converting to Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires on my Davidson (the lovely Katrina), our tandem and my winter bike, I’ve ridden over 12,000 miles and had exactly two (2) flats (or should I say air escapage from both tire and tube since we all know that when a tube loses its capacity to maintain its proper air pr…
…Bio-Pace rings. Virgin Ortliebs. Original straddle cable snapped 3 weeks ago.
Light Bike: Trek 5000 with a Fizih Aliante saddle.
Mountain / Winter: Specialized Rockhopper. Disk brakes work in the snow.
Team Fuji and Burley tandem are on loan.
Older Team Fuji and Rockhopper were stolen. Cest la vie. Elemental My daily commuter is a 2006 Gary Fisher Montare with almost nothing original left on it. I’ve slowly been recovering the bikes that were…
… tubes, brake pads and cables, plus fresh grease in the bearings, fixing up an old bike can be surprisingly expensive. Especially if you’re paying for labor too. Tencon Good post Walt. If you look at the problem I had with my Tandem (as you described) you will see a solution for the corroded quill stem. WD40 and time will help loosen the corrosion and repeated twisting will help loosen it more, alongside a few well-timed thumps from your 2lb hamm…
…how that FEW of the bikes are racing bikes. I can’t imagine Jimmy Johnson taking a discussion on fuel economy as a personal challenge – why should you? Tencon In the very near future I will get the word that my Tandem has been converted to a trike-tandem, or ‘Trandem’
I wonder how many will silently berate me for carrying it (100m) home from the builders so we can start getting fit by riding it ever-longer…
