I usually solo tour on a diamond frame bike. On a recent trip to New Zealand (Nov 2012), my wife and I decided to ride the Central Otago Rail Trail, New Zealand's first rail to trail conversion in the southern part of the South Island (journal here).

After doing a couple training rides on our separate bikes, it occurred to us that some unnecesary difficulties could be avoided if we were both on the same bicycle. So, we went out and rented a tandem bike and rode around town for a couple hours. While it was a bit awkward at first, by the end we were a smooth enough team that we decided to ride our tour on a tandem.

Since I have more biking experience, we decided that I should be the one in front steering (known as the Captain) and my wife should be the one in back (the Stoker). All of my comments come from the Captain's perspective or my wife's description of her experience.

Longer Bike, Harder Steering

The first thing I noticed about riding a tandem was that it is much less responsive to movements in the handlebars. Because the wheel base of a tandem is much longer than a solo bicycle, the angle created when the handlebrs are turned is more acute (smaller) than I was accustomed. It took me a while to learn how much I had to over steer in order to move the tandem where I wanted it to go.

In addition, a tandem is much heaver than a solo bike, due to all the extra metal and because it holds 2 riders. All the extra weight requires a lot more muscle to steer. The difference was similar to a loaded versus unloaded solo touring bicycle. I found that my arms got tired by the end of the day.

The combination of a heavier bike and less responsive steering leads to instability at low speeds. If we slowed down while approaching a narrow bridge or gate, the bike became very sensitive to minor shifts in balance. The slower we went the more frantic my steering became, often having to saw the handlebars back and forth. This usually lead to a quick stop and a bit of hopping to catch our balance. This is far more pronounced than on a solo bicycle.

As the one steering, I found it very hard to miss rocks or bumps in the road as the bike simply didn't respond well to steering changes. Either the front tire would hit the bump or the back tire would. In addition, I had to concentrate far more on maneuvering the tandem down the trail than I would riding a solo bicyle. In some instances, this kept me from seeing something along the trail or in the distance that my wife would point out. I would only take a quick glance as I never felt entirely comfortable taking my eyes and attention off the road and the handlebars.

Learning Balance

On a solo bike, I am accustomed to the bike responding to my shifting weight. If I lean one way, the bike follows. It doesn't work quite the same on a tandem.

On my solo bike, I am the largest weight component. On a tandem, I was about half the weight (when the bike and both of the passengers were added together). At the beginning, I was constantly surprised when I would lean one way and the bike wouldn't move. There were times when I would put my foot down as the bike came to a stop but instead of leaning to that side, it would teeter over to the other. We never fell down as a result, but there was a fair amount of "ooh-oohing" as we came to a stop and tried to get the bike under control.

Let's Get Started

The trickiest maneuver was getting the bike moving and under control from a standing start. It takes the correct set of steps to get the tandem moving fast enough so that it steers in a straight line with both riders pushing the pedals and leaning the same way. If any of these pieces are not done properly, the bike kicks and swerves and often results in an unexpected and awkward stop (and recriminations).

We eventually employed a three part countdown. At one, I applied the brakes and my wife took her foot off the ground and put both feet on the pedals. At two, I would release the brake and push down on my pedal with one foot, keeping the other foot still on the ground for balance. At three, I would put my "ground" foot on the (moving) pedal and begin steering in as straight a line as I could. A good initial push from the stoker helped give us enough momentum to get up to a steerable speed quick enough to get the tandem under control. I verbally counted out the steps every time we started riding.

Stop Now, I Say

Our tandem had dual disc brakes what worked without requiring any unusual squeezing on the brake levers. The difficulty came in getting our movements coordinated when we wanted to stop. This required communication so that we stopped pedaling in unison, leaned the same way, and got our feet down to support the bike as it came to a stop. Otherwise, one person would take a foot off the pedals to support the bike and the other would keep turning the pedals, which leads to shin-scraping and (more) recriminations.

It isn't always possible to know when a stop is coming or, more likely, the Captain simply stops without saying something. As long as it wasn't a panic stop, the stoker usually got the message and got into her "stopping" procedure. But, if the deceleration was too quick, there often was some hopping before the bike was fully brought under control. After while, announcing becomes a normal part of the braking sequence.

A related problem involves stopping/starting pedaling. On a tandem the cranks are both on the same chain so if one person pushes the other person's pedals go around, too. This is usually a good thing and helps with getting started and keeping going. But, if one person stops pedaling without warning, the other rider is caught in an awkward position, trying to push pedals that are suddenly much harder to turn. The same thing happens if the bike is coasting and then one of the rider's starts pedaling. While, announcing that you are going to stop pedaling becomes part of the back and forth communication necessary on a tandem, it takes a bit of time to get right.

Back Seat Driving

There are some important considerations for the stoker, as well. On our tandem, the stoker's handlebars were connected to the Captain's seatpost. This greatly limited adjustments that could be made to fit the rear part of the bike to the stoker's needs. Raising her handlebars meant raising my seat. My wife has long legs and there was barely enough leg room between seat and handlebars. We couldn't really tune her riding position much, which would have been a real problem on a longer, harder ride.

As I was often reminded, her main view was of my back. Or, more accurately, the Camelback I was wearing. While she could look side to side, she couldn't see toward the front easily and there wasn't much distance between my back and her face. More than once, I moved around on my seat and pushed my backpack into her face. She tended to look over my right shoulder which caused here to lean right, slightly altering the balance of the bike.

Lastly, the stoker has to put up with the never ending comments about not pedaling. It seemed that everyone who watched us go by felt the urge to yell out that the one in back isn't pushing. It may help to know that this will happen all the time and keep a good sense of humor about it.

Suggestions

Be sure to try out riding a tandem before attempting a tour on one. We were reasonably confident after just a few hours to think we could do it over several days. Even so, it took us a day or two to work out the needed riding agreements. Make sure you are able to spend some time at the beginning or your tour to work out the bugs before tackling long distance or tricky terrain.

Tandems are much heaver and longer than a solo bike. Shipping them to the start or end of a tour would be a major pain. Having to carry them up or down steps or for any distance would be a bother, as well. We rented ours. We picked it up at the start and simply dropped it off at the end of the trail. While this was ideal, we didn't have time to adjust the bike's fit and weren't familiar with how to repair or adjust everything on the bike. While this wasn't an issue for us, touring on a rented tandem could present problems if something goes wrong.

While a tandem can carry two people, it offers no more rack space than a solo bicycle. That is, the a tandem can carry no more gear for two people than a regular bike carries for one. On a self-contained tour, this would like cause some planning problems. Our tour was fully supported, so we only carried our day's food and some minor repair items.

Would We Do It Again?

Without question, riding a tandem was a far better experience than using two separate bicycles would have been for us. While I am a committed bike rider, she isn't. On separate bikes, we were unlikely to pedal at the same pace and one person would constantly be waiting for the other. On the tandem, there was never any question where the other person was. It was easy to converse and we were able to share the entire experience in a way not possible on separate bicycles.

After returning home, we both agreed that should the opportunity to tour together arise in the future, we'd willingly do so on a tandem.

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