Advice on tandems required

[biggs682]

i have used a Raleigh venture mtb style tandem for the last couple of years for me and my now 10 yr old daughter after trying a couple of late 70's tandems myself , much prefer the newer Raleigh . nice to ride not to heavy for those solo rides .

if local to wellingborough feel free to arrange and try . pm me if you can or want to

 

[lastpubrunner]

i have used a Raleigh venture mtb style tandem for the last couple of years for me and my now 10 yr old daughter after trying a couple of late 70's tandems myself , much prefer the newer Raleigh . nice to ride not to heavy for those solo rides .

if local to wellingborough feel free to arrange and try . pm me if you can or want to

Cheers for the reply; it is very interesting to read the opinions of others who have experience of tandeming with a child.

Ta. v. much for the offer to try your tandem - but I live many miles away in Shropshire.

I live in a very hilly area; if I were to buy a Double Edge or Kickback Two or Raleigh Venture, do they have good brakes ? Would it be possible to fit a hydraulic disc brake system on bikes such as these ? I realise that such systems cost quite a bit, but braking is one area where I don't want any compromise - there some big hills around here !

Oh yes, final question . . . . . . . I think

For a (Very tall for age) 7 year old, what height/size need the stoker seat be ? I'm not 'up' on MTB sizes, let alone, MTB tandems.

 

[hamster]

The Maguras are hydraulic rim brakes, and as I said, work really well even when loaded in the toughest conditions.

Acually discs on a tandem is not such a great idea, simply because the discs are not big enough to soak up the heat of 200kgs+ of bike and riders.
There was a nasty crash last year of a Cannondale tandem that had completely burned out its disc brakes on the Exmoor Beast.

 

[lastpubrunner]

Acually discs on a tandem is not such a great idea, simply because the discs are not big enough to soak up the heat of 200kgs+ of bike and riders.
quote]

That's interesting !

I know someone who has Hydro discs front and rear - Hope 6 pots and he says that they are great.

Mind you, I'd have thought that in the case of my son & myself, we'd be looking at a combined weight of 105kg; I'm not sure what a bike would weigh in at, but I don't think we'd be anywhere near 200kgs.

I just thought that discs might be a good idea, 'cos I've been in situations (on a solo bike) where the rims have got very hot indeed and I've been concerned about the possibility of the inner tubes popping.

Since the potential for downhill speed on a tandem might be greater, this would be something that I'd be anxious to avoid.

 

[hamster]

The issue is frying the discs or fluid - definitely big heavy discs would be the way to go to soak up the heat.
I like really solid rims, not just for the strength but also to absorb all that braking energy.

Tandems often use an additional drag brake, the cheaper ones don't have it. For UK hills I don't think they are that necessary, but long descents in the Alps would be different. :shock:

I'd reckon you should expect a tandem to be around 20kg or so. Going light can make them very flexy.

 

[eastsidebikes]

I've got a Thorn Voyager kidback tandem, 26" wheel MTB style

I expected the STX cantis to be rubbish but they're actually excellent which I attribute equally to kool stop pads, good levers, low-straddle wire setup and really beefy frame tubes.

We use it for touring so I added a Sturmey Archer X-RDC cassette drum brake hub for a drag brake. It's worked well so far, it's not massively powerful but can modulate the speed with no worries of overheating the rims. I've got it on a friction thumbshifter.

Rigida Sputnik is a good rim for tandems, very thick braking surface and heavy duty.