Talk:Tandem bicycle

Untitled
I vaguely remember hearing that if the two people on a tandem have different weights, there's a specific seating they should use, but I can't remember now if it was the heavier person in front or in back. Judging from Image:Johnandjuliet.jpg, it seems the heavier person should be in front. If anyone can confirm this, and especially explain why this is so, it would be a good addition to the article. User:Angr 15:22, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Gesh... Yea I guess I did weigh that much back them har har. OK well I guess if it helps then that was a good thing.

Basically as a rule the rules for who should be captain goes line this...

1) The person with the most cycling skills should be captain 2) If the riders have simmilar skills and neither cares who is captain then the heavier rider should be captain because they are controlling the bike and can use their weight to balance the bike easier when cornering. 3) if #1 does not apply and there is a large height disparity or there is a standover problem with the frame then the taller rider should be in front soas to hold the bike upright. This is only really required IFF the shorter rider cannot touch the ground without hitting the frame but most importantly because when staring on a hill the rear person is usually clipped in onr on the pedals so a "quick start" of power can be applyed by the rear person whilest the front person kicks and mounts the bike... This prevents the possiblity of falling over when starting on a steep surface.

John Preston

Tandem cogs
The picture of the 10-man tandem linked here shows each successive cog attached to the pedals getting bigger and bigger; and on the Goodies’ bike, there seems to be only one gear for the captain, and more as you go on. Does anyone know why this is? —Felix the Cassowary 13:13, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

That seems impracticle. If they are actually getting progressivly bigger then tne guy in the rear would have to be spinning his legs incredibly fast (or the guy in the front spinning his legs very slow).

As for the goodies pic what you are actually seeing is that their bike's crank set is the old school way to make tandem cranks... They are ysing only single bike drive-side gearing... So what they do is connect the front person's big ring to the middle person's big ring... Then the middle person's little ring is connect to the rear person's little ring. THe rear-persons big ring is connect to the drive of the rear wheel.

Because the ration of the big rings are the same and the ratio of the little rings are the same then the cranks all turn together at the same revolutions.

In the modern tande world the cranks are specially built so that the (two person) tandem cranks have their "timing" chain rings on the left side so that the rear person actually as chain rings on BOTH crank arms... The left one connected to the front person and the right one connected to the rear wheel's drive gears.

John Preston

Hmm.. I just looked at the 10 person link again... OK if you notice the gears are getting bigger BUT not BETWEEN riders. So the ratio from rider one to rider two is the same... Then rider two usese a bigger gear to connect to rider three but because riders 2 through 9 have double gears on their canks note that rider three's double ring is the same size as rider two s...

SO to answer the other sort reason for the question... WHy do they get bigger? Well probably because there is more teeth so as the torque applied to the chains as you go closer to the rear (the tension) is getting higher... Having more teeth will somewhat reduce the stress on the chain and teeth of the drivetrain. But that is typically not what you see today... Possibly metals have gotten better? Or that there are no 'racing' ten person bikes :)

John Preston

Side-by-side tandem
Why is tandem only described as fore to aft and not side-by-side? Wouldn't this constitute tandem? http://dheera.net/jason/kanji/tandem.jpg —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jason7825 (talk • contribs) 17:23, 16 May 2007 (UTC).


 * No, in fact, as the second sentence of the article explains, because tandem refers specifically to the for-to-aft seating arrangement and not to the number of riders. Per Sheldon Brown's Glossary A sociable is "a rare type of bicycle for two riders sitting side-by-side. Not technically a "tandem" since that term implies one rider in front of the other." Dictionary.com lists
 * -adverb: "one following or behind the other: to drive horses tandem."
 * -adjective: "having animals, seats, parts, etc., arranged tandem or one behind another."
 * -noun: "a vehicle, as a truck, tractor, or trailer, in which a pair or pairs of axles are arranged in tandem."
 * -idiom in tandem "in single file: They swam in tandem."
 * From Latin: meaning "at last", or "at length".
 * -AndrewDressel 21:46, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I want to create a new Wikipedia entry called 'Sociable' do you think this will be acceptable?
 * -Jason7825 03:19, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Sure, if you can find enough information and sources to cite. Sheldon Brown is a start, but you'll need a good picture that isn't already copyrighted. -AndrewDressel 14:31, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Pedal threading
On 15:14, 26 November 2007, 76.26.106.130 (Talk) added "While the cranks may appear identical to those of a solo bike, the pedal threading is reversed on three of the four cranks. The stoker's right side crank, alone, is similar or identical to that of a standard single person diamond frame bicycle."

This is not the case on my Burley Rumba nor on the Trek T900s I've worked on. Anyone know of a tandem on which it is true? The only reason I can think of for doing so would be to use non-tandem cranks on a tandem. The Peter White Cycles website mentions the need for different threading on tandem-specific cranks. -AndrewDressel (talk) 20:30, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

I see where the confusion comes. The pedal threading is the same if you consider right vs. left side cranks. It is reversed if you consider plain cranks, vs. spider equipped cranks....if you try to use a pair of solo cranks as tandem captain's cranks, the pedal threading will be wrong. It is the pedal threading that makes tandem cranks special...if it were not for that, you could just buy three sets of solo cranks and throw out two of the spiderless arms. It was my attempt to explain what is special about tandem cranks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.26.106.130 (talk) 18:17, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

Rim brakes
I doubt the statement “rim brakes melt tires” (in the brakes paragraph) is correct. In my experience during descents rim brakes can cause the rims to get very hot and tire pressures to increase to the point where you may have a blow out. Deflating tyres slightly before a long descent with rim brakes can save you a tube. Gav111 (talk) 06:19, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

John Preston Gav, actually this is a personal experience... I've seen tires blow (usually over inflated or a loose fitting tire) and I've seen rim brakes melt (leaving streaming ribbon like trails off of the pads trailing in the direction of rotation)... I've also seen melted carbon hubs and other parts from drum or disk brakes. As for melting tires... This usually happens with wire-bead tires and the wire gets hot but also kevlar has come out also... But actually what is more common is the tube will melt/blow where it touches the rim (esp with narrow rim tape so some of the aluminum rim is exposed...  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Prestonjb (talk • contribs) 04:47, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Citation for Performance Section?
The "Performance" section makes numerous claims about the tandem bicycle, up to and including comparisons with a traditional bicycle. But as of this writing, there don't seem to be any in-line citations for these claims. For example, this statement: "They are not necessarily slower on climbs, but are perceived as such, in part due to the need for a high level of coordination between the riders."

Is there any way to quantifiably verify this, or a reliable source that can be cited? I figured I'd ask here first before I put a citation needed tag, since I'm not familiar with the subject matter and haven't the time to thoroughly explore the links and references provided. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.50.226.143 (talk) 17:59, 18 March 2015 (UTC)

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