Got a divorce machine, drama right away ... j/k its all ok.

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Got a divorce machine, drama right away ... j/k its all ok.

Postby Noob » Wed Apr 11, 2012 2:48 pm

HALP! ...

It was a total impulse buy, the gf wanted to try it ... since it looked "fun". While she loved it in the paking lot, she hates it on the path and around the "hood". (Good thing it was only 400$.)

Google pic ( ours is SS.) :

Image


Miss. Trouble maker on the tandem, for the first and last time:

Image

Image


The bike, changes made: Better fenders ( stock ones are for show ), shorter stem ( her knees too close to h-bar for comfort... a lay back seat post is next. ... or a bnnana seat. :lol: ), lights/horns for safety !

...flask for me... :roll:

Image

:thinking:
Last edited by Noob on Sun Feb 17, 2013 8:10 am, edited 2 times in total.
Bend the knees, watch the trees, 5$ please.
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Re: Got a divorce machine... sure enough, drama right away .

Postby Shadow Catcher » Wed Apr 11, 2012 6:26 pm

I have seen a number of "Tandem for sale ridden 4 times" ads!
Tandems have a number of advantages.
You are always 2 gether, in sync, faster than the fastest of the two riders, only one rider has to be able to see. The captain gets all the bugs, the stoker gets to swat the captain between the shoulder blades.
Communications needs to be exacting (hard for many males) i.e. hold breath, after eating sauerkraut...
I bought Nancy a suspension seat post, the stoker gets a bit more beat up by bumps in the road.
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Re: Got a divorce machine... sure enough, drama right away .

Postby Fenlason » Wed Apr 11, 2012 6:32 pm

I like it :D :thumbsup:

I almost purchased a cruiser tandem a few years ago. LL Bean had one they wanted to get rid of. [I forget the brand at the moment] It was one I could get through the shop.. but Bean's wanted less than my cost on it. We were not sure about getting it home [we had not planned on buying a tandem] and questioned how much we would use it, and worried about storage space. I do now wish we have purchased it. :shrug:
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Re: Got a divorce machine... sure enough, drama right away .

Postby Fenlason » Wed Apr 11, 2012 6:33 pm

Shadow Catcher wrote:I have seen a number of "Tandem for sale ridden 4 times" ads!
Tandems have a number of advantages.
You are always 2 gether, in sync, faster than the fastest of the two riders, only one rider has to be able to see. The captain gets all the bugs, the stoker gets to swat the captain between the shoulder blades.
Communications needs to be exacting (hard for many males) i.e. hold breath, after eating sauerkraut...
I bought Nancy a suspension seat post, the stoker gets a bit more beat up by bumps in the road.


faster than the faster of the two riders is not always the case...
glenn

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
Kahlil Gibran

We don't stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.
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Re: Got a divorce machine... sure enough, drama right away .

Postby Fenlason » Wed Apr 11, 2012 6:53 pm

Noob.. My wife and I have many miles on tandems.. 10's of thousands of miles. We currently own 3. Until this past year almost all of our road riding for the past 18 or so years have been on tandems. As well as some off road riding also.
hmm I am not sure how to put it.. :thinking: I don't mean to talk down to you at all.. I don't recall what you know and what you don't.. so If I mention anything you do.. I apologize.

Tandems can take time. I have had a lot of friends that see how well my wife and I do on our's and want to try it. It has proven to be harder than they thought. In selling tandems.. we were first taught to take the Capt. out for a ride [with him stoking] and scare the crap out of him.. then instruct him. Then take the would be stoker out for a good ride.

A couple does need to be able to work as a team. A stoker that has control issues or trust issues, will always have a hard time. In most cases the stoker can not see up ahead.. so that can't see where they are going, and they also have no control where they are going. I have stoked with other people also.. and I must say even after many miles captaining a tandem, it was a little unnerving at first. To be riding inches from the edge of the pavement.. and to not be able to see where you are going.. or to have any control. I could sort of tell where intersections were, so I was semi comfortable with them.. but regular curves in the road were freaky.

Also on the back on the tandem, bumps can be pretty harsh. They can't see them coming.. and get slammed by them pretty harshly.

A big thing to do from the start is for the Captain to communicate everything. Is there someone walking on the side of the road toward you [or away for that matter] alert your stoker to this.. so they are not startled. Call out bumps, timing it so they can react to it. I don't know of any telescoping seat post, that will allow you to skip this. We do use a Tamer 4 pivot posts, that does cut down on what I have to call out. Previously to getting this post.. putting a lot of miles on.. saying bump for every bump.. became so routine, so automatic..that at times I started accidently saying it in the car :o seriously.

At interesections don't cut too close the signs or poles.. take it easy downhill speed wise to start. Regardless of how good your relationship is.. you need to earn her trust, in riding this bike..

My wife and I are a great couple.. and do everything together.. and we did real well on the tandem.. but with that said.. we have had bad days...not often.. but it has happened.

good luck.. :worship: :thumbsup:
Last edited by Fenlason on Tue Oct 09, 2012 10:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
glenn

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
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Re: Got a divorce machine... sure enough, drama right away .

Postby Fenlason » Wed Apr 11, 2012 7:11 pm

oops.. I started writing this before I saw shadow catcher's post.. I obviously saw it before I posted.. but did end up saying some of what he has said...
glenn

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
Kahlil Gibran

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Re: Got a divorce machine... sure enough, drama right away .

Postby Noob » Wed Apr 11, 2012 7:56 pm

Wow! That was fast, thanks guys, for the tips. :beer:

I'll give it a try ... and talk to the lady friend. ( both off and on the bike ) ...

I ordered a thudbuster, since it does all this:
thudbuster website wrote: " Thudbuster rear suspension you'll ride faster, longer, and stronger with better traction, more control, and less fatigue."

( ... from BTI, I'm not payig retail for that ! :shock: )

I thought a cruiser ( upright position) would be a good start, over a road or mtb... the price was a nice bonus. ( its 350$ from J&B plus 100 for shipping... so I think, I saved 50$ to buy it from another b-shop in town, that already had it AND it was ready to go/built . Donno if thats how its supposed to work... :thinking: )

Wish me luck. :worship:
Bend the knees, watch the trees, 5$ please.
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Thudbuster rear suspension you'll ride faster, longer ...

Postby b1kebox » Wed Apr 11, 2012 9:03 pm

We've owned 8 tandems since 1991 and currently have 3 (RANS Seavo [fast recumbent], RANS Dynamic Duo [weekend touring semi-recumbent] and DaVinci [rails-to-trails etc]). My wife logs about 1/2 her miles on tandems each year and is a supporter of the Thudbuster seat posts. IMO the biggest benefit is mine as I don't have to call out every little imperfection in the road, although I'd question the statement that you'll ride faster, but likely longer as it improves comfort. I have Thudbusters on both my rigid fork rails-to-trails bikes (one 26" the other a 29er). They do add weight and it may take you several changes in Elastomer http://www.thudbuster.com/video.html to hit the sweet spot. The weight limits for the Elastomers is just a starting point.
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Re: Thudbuster rear suspension you'll ride faster, longer ..

Postby Fenlason » Thu Apr 12, 2012 4:57 am

b1kebox wrote:We've owned 8 tandems since 1991 and currently have 3 (RANS Seavo [fast recumbent], RANS Dynamic Duo [weekend touring semi-recumbent] and DaVinci [rails-to-trails etc]). My wife logs about 1/2 her miles on tandems each year and is a supporter of the Thudbuster seat posts. IMO the biggest benefit is mine as I don't have to call out every little imperfection in the road, although I'd question the statement that you'll ride faster, but likely longer as it improves comfort. I have Thudbusters on both my rigid fork rails-to-trails bikes (one 26" the other a 29er). They do add weight and it may take you several changes in Elastomer http://www.thudbuster.com/video.html to hit the sweet spot. The weight limits for the Elastomers is just a starting point.


:thumbsup:

We have owned only 5 tandems... we started in the later 80's, but did not get serious about it until the early 90's. Our first bike was a Franklin. It was a handmade bike [from Ohio I think] It was second hand, but I don't think I could call it used. I am not sure it had been ridden. Our next was a Santana Sovereign. We still have that bike, and now use it as our sloppier weather bike. We then purchased a Santana Rio, with the idea of trying tandem mountain biking. Despite what Santana claimed, we found it severely lacking, for off road applications. They offered to take it back and build what we wanted, but we opted to go with a builder that had more experience in off road tandeming, to help guide us. We went with a custom, a Coggs from Calgary. built by Jeff Shuggs :thumbsup:
Then a few years ago we thought about upgrading to a lighter faster road tandem. I decided to stay with a Santana we looked at some of their lighter faster aluminum bikes... then wondered about getting one of their Ti bikes. My sales person suggested for our intended use, to either stay with the aluminum bike we were looking at, or go to their Ti-carbon bike.

It is insanely expensive... but my wife eventually talked me into it. Man what a bike. Stiff... comfy... light and fast. :D :twisted:

Tandem riding made my wife a much stronger rider. We worked very well together on them. With our new "excursion" into endurance mountain bike racing. We have opted back to single bikes for a bit. For one reason, as a stoker, my wife does not have to steer ..brake... shift etc. We are now enjoying single bike riding. She is still working at her comfort drafting etc, but she is going to be a beast. :D :twisted:
glenn

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
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Re: Got a divorce machine... sure enough, drama right away .

Postby Fenlason » Thu Apr 12, 2012 4:58 am

Noob wrote:Wow! That was fast, thanks guys, for the tips. :beer:

I'll give it a try ... and talk to the lady friend. ( both off and on the bike ) ...

I ordered a thudbuster, since it does all this:
thudbuster website wrote: " Thudbuster rear suspension you'll ride faster, longer, and stronger with better traction, more control, and less fatigue."

( ... from BTI, I'm not payig retail for that ! :shock: )

I thought a cruiser ( upright position) would be a good start, over a road or mtb... the price was a nice bonus. ( its 350$ from J&B plus 100 for shipping... so I think, I saved 50$ to buy it from another b-shop in town, that already had it AND it was ready to go/built . Donno if thats how its supposed to work... :thinking: )

Wish me luck. :worship:


good luck... :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
glenn

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
Kahlil Gibran

We don't stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.
George Bernard Shaw
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Re: Got a divorce machine... sure enough, drama right away .

Postby LeoH » Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:48 pm

Just remember the saying about tandems isn't that they 'cause' the divorce, but they do send a relationship faster in the direction it was heading beforehand!
:lol:

Your photo is sure dramatic in showing how much lower the stoker is on that bike. It may well be more $$$ than you want to spend, but fwiw, I'd suggest looking up on craigslist any Sun tandem recumbent bikes nearby for a test spin. In general, the recumbent tandems don't have near that much difference in rider level. That might make it more pleasant for the stoker.
:thinking:
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Re: Got a divorce machine... sure enough, drama right away .

Postby JuneBug » Wed Apr 25, 2012 10:23 am

Tape this note onto your mirror:
Note to self: "Do NOT get a canoe!"
You'll need to put a divorce lawyer on speed dial if you do. :cry:

My husband and I did try a tandem a few year ago and we really liked it. Too many uno bikes in the garage right now, tho, to even consider a tandem.
"The large print giveth; the small print taketh away" Tom Waits
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Re: Got a divorce machine... sure enough, drama right away .

Postby Noob » Wed May 02, 2012 5:47 pm

LOL, we have a canoe... and do fine. Its the bike thats the problem.
Bend the knees, watch the trees, 5$ please.
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Re: Got a divorce machine... sure enough, drama right away .

Postby Fenlason » Wed May 02, 2012 8:00 pm

We have done canoe's and tandem kayaks.. and find them much less of a challenge than the bikes... :shrug:
glenn

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
Kahlil Gibran

We don't stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.
George Bernard Shaw
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Re: Got a divorce machine... sure enough, drama right away .

Postby Fenlason » Wed May 02, 2012 8:01 pm

Noob wrote:LOL, we have a canoe... and do fine. Its the bike thats the problem.


So have you made any headway :thinking: :worship:
glenn

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
Kahlil Gibran

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