A bicycle built for two seems like, well, such a lovely concept, doesn’t it?
“… you’ll look sweet upon the seat, of a bicycle built for two!”
I suppose you need to be of a certain age to have that lyric ring in your head.
Me? My Dad would sing that in car along with other classic ditties (not diddies!) like We’ll Build a Bungalow Big Enough for Two and Skinnamerinky-Dinky-Do.
Amazing to find out (isn’t the Internet AMAZING!) that the bicycle built for two lyric is the only line anyone remembers from a song with 11 — YES 11 — verses!
I’m sure you’ve surmised what this week’s topic is: Tandems.
Growing up our neighbors the Foglias had a hefty Schwinn tandem. Must have weighed 300 or 400 pounds. It was nearly impossible for two kids to get the bike to stand up, much less get it pedaling.
Who knows how many times Mr. Foglia came out to the driveway to rescue two kids pinned under that tandem.
But, being resourceful kids, we somehow managed to get it going every now and then. And since it was Folgia’s bike, only a Foglia could pilot it.
As such, every time the bike had to stop, the stoker ended up being thrown forward like a crash test dummy, straddling the top tube screaming in shear excruciating pain leaving one to quickly surmise that this bicycle wasn’t built for a certain two things that all males have in common.
Suffice to say, from childhood on, I look at tandems with a not-so-typical view of most people.
Then I got hired at Bike Friday. Their tandems are about as sweet as they come — not to mention they can be broken down and packed into two suitcases.
The tandem has deep roots in the Scholz family. Bike Friday founders Alan and Hanz Scholz spent many a mile racing tandems.
Tandem customers love them, and told many heartwarming tales. So, one weekend, I took one home, having yet built my Bike Friday that all Bike Friday employees are obligated to build to understand and appreciate the process.
One by one, I had my wife, then each of my two daughters, hop on the back.
The most incredible, unbelievable, thing occurred.
At the EXACT same point, just 100 yards down the road, each one of them declared:
THAT’S IT, GET ME OFF THIS THING NOW!!
Of course I spun around immediately realizing for the first time I lived in a house full of dominating women who refuse to spend even a block in a situation where they have no control.
Then again, as we rolled out of the driveway I glanced at our picture window at the reflection and thought, well, they sure look sweet …
This week’s question: What’s your stand on tandems?
Never tried. Don’t want to try. If I did try, I’m sure I’d be just like the women in your family. Just let me do it myself.
If you like them, enjoy. Your coordination together is impressive And if you let me draft on your tandem, I promise I’ll take a pull even if its short and I blow up.
Nope. I’d have to marry someone else, and that ain’t happening. I remember my first time meeting a tandem couple. Wrapping up a 50 mile ride during which most of us drafted off of them, husband turns to wife: “Honey, if we do another 75, that’ll be 1000 for the year.” This was in early February. And off they went. Tandem couples are a special breed, and my hat’s off.
My better half grumbled about me disappearing for hours every Sunday morrning so one day in 1994 I asked a favor of Frank Smith, the owner of Island Triathlon and Bike in Honolulu. He let me borrow a Trek T50 to see if my wife was interested in tandeming. We were halfway out of our residential valley on that first ride and the front tire blew its sidewall. Interesting first experience for my wife, but the thing grew on her and we started doing metric centuries and long rides as well as shorter weekend rides; I upgraded that bike to drop bars and better components. Eventually upgraded to a Co Motion.
Long ago and far away picture.
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3eBVketCRtM/UuWagfYSg6I/AAAAAAAABOQ/SAXpke8AE0E/s1600/late+1990%27s.jpg
Never tried one, but now you’ve got me thinking……
A very wide range of responses! If you think a tandem might be your vibe but it isn’t resonating with your partner, well, there are a lot of blind folks out there who would love to be your stoker. Check it out
https://bicyclingblind.org/about
Have you ever BEEN on the back of a tandem? If you are used to controlling a half-bike, then it’s terrifying! While I had a bunch of different stokers who liked it just fine, the first time I tried the back we had to stop and straighten the rear handle bars every three minutes. There used to be an article called “the proper method” that laid out in no uncertain terms how to launch a tandem, and in even more uncertain terms how “the stoker can do no wrong”. Anything that doesn’t go right is entirely the fault of the captain.
Also, on long group rides, if you spend a few hundred miles drafting a tandem, (like the Davis Double) the convention is to fill the tandems’ water bottles, and fetch sandwiches at all the rest stops.
I found the article. Yes, I’m sure it’s carved in stone somewhere.
https://gtgtandems.com/tech/propmethod.html